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LIFE IN MOROCCO 

\ 



\ 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR j 
In uniform style. Demy 8vo, 15^. each.' 
THE MOORS : an Account of People ?.nd Customs. 

With 1^2 Illustrations. 

^ ,. T^,,„ ivr=,drtinff Crowd "-Within the Gates-Where the Moors Live— 
Contents :-" The Padding crow ^^^ Etiquette— What the Moors Eat and 

How the Moors Dress-Moonsb co .>^^^_^^^^^^ Life-Trade-Arts and Manu- 
Drink— Everyday Life— blavery a' 

factures-Matters Medical. _^^^ Mohammedan Year (Feasts and Fasts) -Places 

Some Moorish Characteri. j Pilgrimage— Education— Saints and Superstitions 

of Worship— Alms, Hospitsiity, ana rugru « 

-Marriage-Funeral Rite.. Morocco-The Jewish Year. 

The Morocco Berbers-ihe jews 01 i ' 

THE LAND OF THE MOORS : A Comprehensive 

D^^criDtion. With a New Map and 83 Illustrations. 

■^ f Features— Natural Resources— Vegetable Products— Animal 

Life. uvfnrips of Tangier, Tetuan, Laraiche, Salli-Rabat, Dar el Baida, 

Descriptions ^"'^ "j^g^ador • Azlla, Fedala, Mehedia, Mansfiriya, Azammfir and 
Mazagan, Saffi ana } & , varrdkesh ; Zarhdn, Wazzan and Sheshdwan ; El Kasar, 
Waladiya: Fez, Mequmez auu ^^^^ ^^^ Oojda ; Ceuta, Velez, Alhucemas, Melillaand 
Sifru, Tadla. Damnat laza. i^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ 

the Zaffarines , &us, _^^ ^^^ g^j^^ ^f ^ jvioor— To Marrdkesh on a Bicycle— In 

Reminiscences of T rave 

THE^MOOFSH EMPIRE: A Historical Epitome. 

•^ ,^- 1 fji^tv)' 1 1 8 Illustrations, and a unique Chronological, Geo- 

^^, . 1 iid Genealogical Chart. 

° ^ _ ^vlauretania — The Mohammedan Invasion — Foundation of Empire — 

Contents • Empire — Extension of Empire — Contraction of Empire — Stagnation of 

Consolidatio^-jjification of Empire — The Reigning Shareefs — The Moorish Government 

Empire— P^'ministration. 

— Presen^j^g ^^ ^^^ Moorish Service — The Salli Rovers — Record of the Christian Slaves 

Eur^n Influences in Morocco — Foreign Relations — Moorish Diplomatic Usages — 

— Cb; Rights and Privileges — Commercial Intercourse — The Fate of the Empire. 

F°''orks on Morocco reviewed •(213 vols, in 11 languages) — The Place of Morocco in 

•ion — ^Journalism in Morocco — Works Recommended — Classical Authorities on Morocco. 

London: SWAN SONNENSCHEIN, Ltd. 



AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARABIC OF 

MOROCCO : Vocabulary, Grammar Notes, Etc., in Roman 
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and eminently practical system. 

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/N ARABIC CHARACTERS 

MOROCCO-ARABIC DIALOGUES, 

or 

DIALOGOS EN ARABE MAROQUI. 

By C. W. Baldwin, 



London: BERNARD QUARITCH, PICCADILLY. 
Tangier: BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY'S DEP6t. 




\_Photograph by Edward Lee, Esq., Saffi. 
A MOORISH THOROUGHFARE. 



LIFE IN MOROCCO 

AND GLIMPSES BEYOND 



BUDGETT MEAKIN 

AUTHOR OK 

THE MOORS," "THE LAND OF THE MOORS," "THE MOORISH EMPIRE, 

" MODEL FACTORIES AND VILLAGES," ETC. 



WITH TWENTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS 



NEW YORK 
E. P. BUTTON AND COMPANY 

31 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 
1906 






PRINTED BY 

WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 

LONDON AND BECCLES. 




FOREWORD 

Which of us has yet forgotten that first day when 
we set foot in Barbary ? Those first impressions, 
as the gorgeous East with all its countless sounds 
and colours, forms and odours, burst upon us ; 
mingled pleasures and disgusts, all new, undreamed- 
of, or our wildest dreams enhanced ! Those yell- 
ing, struggling crowds of boatmen, porters, donkey- 
boys ; guides, thieves, and busy-bodies ; clad in 
mingled finery and tatters ; European, native, non- 
descript ; a weird, incongruous medley — such as is 
always produced when East meets West — how they 
^ did astonish and amuse us ! How we laughed 
(some trembling inwardly) and then, what letters 
we wrote home ! 

One-and-twenty years have passed since that ex- 
perience entranced the present writer, and although 
he has repeated it as far as possible in practically 
every other oriental country, each fresh visit to 
Morocco brings back somewhat of the glamour of 
that maiden plunge, and somewhat of that youthful 
ardour, as the old associations are renewed. 
Nothing he has seen elsewhere excels Morocco 
in point of life and colour save Bokhdra ; and 



vi FOREWORD 

only in certain parts of India or in China is it 
rivalled. Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli have lost 
much of that charm under Turkish or western 
rule ; Egypt still more markedly so, while Palestine 
is of a population altogether mixed and hetero- 
geneous. The bazaars of Damascus, even, and 
Constantinople, have given way to plate-glass, and 
nothing remains in the nearer East to rival Morocco. 

Notwithstanding the disturbed condition of much 
of the country, nothing has occurred to interfere 
with the pleasure certain to be afforded by a visit 
to Morocco at any time, and all who can do so 
are strongly recommended to include it in an early 
holiday. The best months are from September to 
May, though the heat on the coast is never too 
great for an enjoyable trip. The simplest way of 
accomplishing this is by one of Messrs. Forwood's 
regular steamers from London, calling at most of 
the Morocco ports and returning by the Canaries, 
the tour occupying about a month, though it may 
be broken and resumed at any point. Tangier 
may be reached direct from Liverpool by the 
Papayanni Line, or indirectly via Gibraltar, sub- 
sequent movements being decided by weather and 
local sailings. British consular officials, mission- 
aries, and merchants will be found at the various 
ports, who always welcome considerate strangers. 

Comparatively few, even of the ever-increasing 
number of visitors who year after year bring this 
only remaining independent Barbary State within 



FOREWORD vii 

the scope of their pilgrimage, are aware of the 
interest with which it teems for the scientist, the 
explorer, the historian, and students of human 
nature in general. One needs to dive beneath 
the surface, to live on the spot in touch with the 
people, to fathom the real Morocco, and in this it 
is doubtful whether any foreigners not connected by 
ties of creed or marriage ever completely succeed. 
What can be done short of this the writer attempted 
to do, mingling with the people as one of them- 
selves whenever this was possible. Inspired by the 
example of Lane in his description of the " Modern 
Egyptians," he essayed to do as much for the 
Moors, and during eighteen years he laboured to 
that end. 

The present volume gathers together from many 
quarters sketches drawn under those circumstances, 
supplemented by a resu7n4 of recent events and the 
political outlook, together with three chapters — 
viii., xi., and xiv, — contributed by his wife, whose 
assistance throughout its preparation he has once 
more to acknowledge with pleasure. To many 
correspondents in Morocco he is also indebted for 
much valuable up-to-date information on current 
affairs, but as most for various reasons prefer to 
remain unmentioned, it would be invidious to name 
any. For most of the illustrations, too, he desires 
to express his hearty thanks to the gentlemen who 
have permitted him to reproduce their photographs. 

Much of the material used has already appeared 



viii FOREWORD 

in more fugitive form in the Times of Morocco, the 
London Quarterly Review, the Forum, the West- 
minster Review, Harper s Magazine, the Hum^ani- 
tarian, the Gentleman s Magazine, the Independent 
(New York), the Modern Chiirch, the Jewish 
Chronicle, Good Health, the Medical Missionary, 
the Pall Mall Gazette, the Westminster Gazette, 
the Outlook, etc., while Chapters ix., xix., and xxv. 
to xxix. have been extracted from a still unpub- 
lished picture of Moorish country life, " Sons of 
Ishmael." 



B. M. 



Hampstead, 

November 1905. 



CONTENTS 

PART I 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. RETROSPECTIVE ... ... ... ... ... I 

II. THE PRESENT DAY ... ... ... ... 14 

III. BEHIND THE SCENES ... ... ... ... 36 

IV. THE BERBER RACE ... ... ... ... 47 

V. THE WANDERING ARAB ... ... ... ... 57 

VI. CITY LIFE ... ... ... ... ... 63 

VII. THE WOMEN-FOLK ... ... ... ... 71 

VIII. SOCIAL VISITS ... ... ... ... 82 

IX. A COUNTRY WEDDING ... ... ... ... 88 

X. THE BAIRNS ... ... ... ... ... 94 

XL "dining out" ... ... ... ... ... 102 

XIL DOMESTIC ECONOMY ... ... ... ... 107 

XIII, THE NATIVE " MERCHANT " ... ... ... 113 

XIV. SHOPPING ... ... ... ... ... 118 

XV. A SUNDAY MARKET ... ... ... ... 125 

XVI. PLAY-TIME ... ... ... ... ... 133 

XVII. THE STORY-TELLER ... ... ... ... 138 



XVIII. SNAKE-CHARMING 
XIX. IN A MOORISH CAF^ 



151 
159 



XX. THE MEDICINE-MAN ... ... ... ... 166 

ix 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXI. THE HUMAN MART ... ... ... ... 179 

XXII. A SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY ... ... ... 185 

XXIIL THE PILGRIM CAMP ... ... ... ... I9I 

XXIV, RETURNING HOME ... ... ... ... 20I 

PART II 

XXV. DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO ... ... ... 20$ 

XXVI. PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES ... ... ... 233 

XXVII. THE PROTECTION SYSTEM ... ... ... 242 

XXVIII. JUSTICE FOR THE JEW ... ... ... 252 

XXIX. CIVIL WAR IN MOROCCO ... ... ... 261 

XXX. THE POLITICAL SITUATION ... ... ... 267 

XXXI. FRANCE IN MOROCCO ... ... ... ... 292 

PART III 

XXXII. ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO ... ... 307 

XXXIII. TUNISIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO ... ... 318 

XXXIV. TRIPOLI VIEWED FROM MOROCCO ... ... 326 

XXXV. FOOT-PRINTS OF THE MOORS IN SPAIN ... ... 332 

APPENDIX 

"MOROCCO NEWS" ... ... ... ... ... 381 

INDEX ... ... 395 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

TO FACE PAGE 

A MOORISH THOROUGHFARE ... ... Frontispiece 

GATE OF THE SEVEN VIRGINS, SALLI ... ... ... I 

CROSSING A MOROCCO RIVER ... ... ... ... 26 

A BERBER VILLAGE IN THE ATLAS ... ... ... 47 

AN ARAB TENT IN MOROCCO ... ... ... ... 57 

ROOFS OF TANGIER FROM THE BRITISH CONSULATE ... 71 

A MOORISH CARAVAN ... ... ... ... ... 91 

FRUIT-SELLERS ... ... ... ... ... 107 

A TUNISIAN SHOPKEEPER ... ... ... ... 118 

THE SUNDAY MARKET, TANGIER ... ... ... 128 

GROUP AROUND PERFORMERS, MARrXkESH ... ... 141 

A MOROCCO FANDAK (CARAVANSARAI) ... ... ... 159 

RABHAH, NARRATOR OF THE SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY ... ... 185 

WAITING FOR THE STEAMER ... ... ... ... 20I 

A CITY GATEWAY IN MOROCCO ... ... ... ... 211 

CENTRAL MOROCCO HOMESTEAD ... ... ... 242 

JEWESSES OF THE ATLAS ... ... ... ... ... 256 

A MOORISH KA'ID AND ATTENDANTS ... ... ... 275 

TUNISIA UNDER THE FRENCH — AN EXECUTION ... ... 299 

TENT OF AN ALGERIAN SHEIKH ... ... ... 313 

A TUNISIAN JEWESS IN STREET DRESS ... ... ... 325 

OUTSIDE TRIPOLI ... ... ... ... ... 330 

A SHRINE IN CORDOVA MOSQUE ... ... ... ... 340 

THE MARKET-PLACE, TETUAN ... ... ... 375 

xi 



Note. — The system of translating Arabic adopted 
by the Author in his previous works has here been 
followed only so far as it is likely to be adopted by 
others than specialists^ all signs being omitted which 
are not essential to approximate prommciation. 



LIFE IN MOROCCO 



PART I 



RETROSPECTIVE 

" The firmament turns, and times are changing." 

Moorish Proverb. 

By the western gate of the Mediterranean, where 
the narrowed sea has so often tempted invaders, 
the decrepit Moorish Empire has become itself a 
bait for those who once feared it. Yet so far 
Morocco remains untouched, save where a fringe 
of Europeans on the coast purvey the luxuries from 
other lands that Moorish tastes demand, and in 
exchange take produce that would otherwise be 
hardly worth the raising. Even here the foreign 
influence is purely superficial, failing to affect the 
lives of the people ; while the towns in which 
Europeans reside are so few in number that 
whatever influence they do possess is limited in 
area. Moreover, Morocco has never known foreign 
dominion, not even that of the Turks, who have 
left their impress on the neighbouring Algeria and 
Tunisia. None but the Arabs have succeeded in 
obtaining a foothold among its Berbers, and they, 
restricted to the plains, have long become part of 

I B 



2 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

the nation. Thus Morocco, of all the North African 
kingdoms, has always maintained its independence, 
and in spite of changes all round, continues to live 
its own picturesque life. 

Picturesque it certainly is, with its flowing 
costumes and primitive homes, both of which vary 
in style from district to district, but all of which 
seem as though they must have been unchanged 
for thousands of years. Without security for life 
or property, the mountaineers go armed, they dwell 
in fortresses or walled-in villages, and are at constant 
war with one another. On the plains, except in the 
vicinity of towns, the country people group their 
huts around the fortress of their governor, within 
which they can shelter themselves and their pos- 
sessions in time of war. No other permanent 
erection is to be seen on the plains, unless it be 
some wayside shrine which has outlived the ruin 
fallen on the settlement to which it once belonged, 
and is respected by the conquerors as holy ground. 
Here and there gaunt ruins rise, vast crumbling 
walls of concrete which have once been fortresses, 
lending an air of desolation to the scene, but offer- 
ing no attraction to historian or antiquary. No 
one even knows their names, and they contain no 
monuments. If ever more solid remains are en- 
countered, they are invariably set down as the work 
of the Romans. 

Yet Morocco has a history, an interesting history 
indeed, one linked with ours in many curious ways, 
as is recorded in scores of little-known volumes. 
It has a literature amazingly voluminous, but there 
were days when the relations with other lands were 
much closer, if less cordial, the days of the crusades 




\Cavilla, Photo., Tangier. 
GATE OF THE SEVEN VIRGINS, SALLI. 



RETROSPECTIVE 3 

and the Barbary pirates, the days of European 
tribute to the Moors, and the days of Christian 
slavery in Morocco. Constantly appearing bro- 
chures in many tongues made Europe of those days 
acquainted with the horrors of that dreadful land. 
All these only served to augment the fear in which 
its people were held, and to deter the victimized 
nations from taking action which would speedily 
have put an end to it all, by demonstrating the in- 
herent weakness of the Moorish Empire. 

But for those whose study is only the Moors as 
they exist to-day, the story of Morocco stretches 
back only a thousand years, as until then its scattered 
tribes of Berber mountaineers had acknowledged no 
head, and knew no common interests; they were not 
a nation. War was their pastime ; it is so now to 
a great extent. Every man for himself, every tribe 
for itself. Idolatry, of which abundant traces still 
remain, had in places been tinged with the name 
and some of the forms of Christianity, but to what 
extent it is now impossible to discover. In the 
Roman Church there still exist titular bishops of 
North Africa, one, in particular, derives his title 
from the district of Morocco of which Fez is now 
the capital, Mauretania Tingitana. 

It was among these tribes that a pioneer mission 
of Islam penetrated in the eighth of our centuries. 
Arabs were then greater strangers in Barbary than 
we are now, but they were by no means the first 
strange faces seen there. Phoenicians, Romans 
and Vandals had preceded them, but none had 
stayed, none had succeeded in amalgamating with 
the Berbers, among whom those individuals who did 
remain were absorbed. These hardy clansmen, 



4 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

exhibiting the characteristics of hill-folk the world 
round, still inhabited the uplands and retained 
their independence. In this they have indeed suc- 
ceeded to a great extent until the present day, but 
between that time and this they have given of their 
life-blood to build up by their side a less pure nation 
of the plains, whose language as well as its creed is 
that of Arabia. 

To imagine that Morocco was invaded by a 
Muslim host who carried all before them is a great 
mistake, although a common one. Mulai Idrees — 
"My Lord Enoch" in English — a direct descen- 
dant of Mohammed, was among the first of the 
Arabian missionaries to arrive, with one or two 
faithful adherents, exiles fleeing from the Khalifa 
of Mekka. So soon as he had induced one tribe 
to accept his doctrines, he assisted them with his 
advice and prestige in their combats with hereditary 
enemies, to whom, however, the novel terms were 
offered of fraternal union with the victors, if they 
would accept the creed of which they had become 
the champions. Thus a new element was intro- 
duced into the Berber polity, the element of com- 
bination, for the lack of which they had always 
been weak before. Each additional ally meant an 
augmentation of the strength of the new party 
out of all proportion to the losses from occasional 
defeats. 

In course of time the Mohammedan coalition 
became so strong that it was in a position to dictate 
terms and to impose governors upon the most 
obstinate of its neighbours. The effect of this was 
to divide the allies into two important sections, the 
older of which founded Fez in the days of the son 



RETROSPECTIVE 5 

of Idrees, accounted the second ameer of that 
name, who there lies buried in the most important 
mosque of the Empire, the very approaches of 
which are closed to the Jew and the Nazarene. 
The only spot which excels it in sanctity is that 
at Zarhdn, a day's journey off, in which the first 
Idrees lies buried. There the whole town is for- 
bidden to the foreigner, and an attempt made by 
the writer to gain admittance in disguise was frus- 
trated by discovery at the very gate, though later 
on he visited the shrine in Fez. The dynasty thus 
formed, the Shurfa Idreeseein, is represented to-day 
by the Shareef of Wazzdn. 

In southern Morocco, with its capital at Agh- 
mat, on the Atlas slopes, was formed what later 
grew to be the kingdom of Marrdkesh, the city 
of that name being founded in the middle of 
the eleventh century. Towards the close of the 
thirteenth, the kingdoms of Fez and Marrdkesh 
became united under one ruler, whose successor, 
after numerous dynastic changes, is the Sultan of 
Morocco now.* 

But from the time that the united Berbers 
had become a nation, to prevent them falling out 
among themselves again it was necessary to find 
some one else to fight, to occupy the martial instinct 
nursed in fighting one another. So long as there 
were ancient scores to be wiped out at home, so 
long as under cover of a missionary zeal they could 
continue intertribal feuds, things went well for the 
victors ; but as soon as excuses for this grew scarce, 
it was needful to fare afield. The pretty story — told, 

' For a complete outline of Moorish history, see the writer's 
" Moorish Empire." 



6 LIFE In morocco 

by the way, of other warriors as well — of the Arab 
leader charging the Atlantic surf, and weeping that 
the world should end there, and his conquests too, 
may be but fiction, but it illustrates a fact. Had 
Europe lain further off, the very causes which had 
conspired to raise a central power in Morocco would 
have sufficed to split it up again. This, however, 
was not to be. In full view of the most northern 
strip of Morocco, from Ceuta to Cape Spartel, the 
north-west corner of Africa, stretches the coast of 
sunny Spain. Between El K'sar es-Sagheer, 
" The Little Castle," and Tarifa Point is only a 
distance of nine or ten miles, and in that southern 
atmosphere the glinting houses may be seen across 
the straits. 

History has it that internal dissensions at the 
Court of Spain led to the Moors being actually 
invited over ; but that inducement was hardly 
needed. Here was a country of infidels yet to be 
conquered ; here was indeed a land of promise. 
Soon the Berbers swarmed across, and in spite of 
reverses, carried all before them. Spain was then 
almost as much divided into petty states as their 
land had been till the Arabs taught them better, 
and little by little they made their way in a country 
destined to be theirs for five hundred years. Cor- 
dova, Seville, Grandda, each in turn became their 
capital, and rivalled Fez across the sea. 

The successes they achieved attracted from the 
East adventurers and merchants, while by wise ad- 
ministration literature and science were encouraged, 
till the Berber Empire of Spain and Morocco took a 
foremost rank among the nations of the day. Judged 
from the standpoint of their time, they seem to us a 



RETROSPECTIVE 7 

prodigy ; judged from our standpoint, they were but 
little in advance of their descendants of the twentieth 
century, who, after all, have by no means retro- 
graded, as they are supposed to have done, though 
they certainly came to a standstill, and have suffered 
all the evils of four centuries of torpor and stagna- 
tion. Civilization wrought on them the effects that 
it too often produces, and with refinement came 
weakness. The sole remaining state of those which 
the invaders, finding independent, conquered one by 
one, is the little Pyrenean Republic of Andorra, still 
enjoying privileges granted to it for its brave defence 
against the Moors, which made it the high-water 
mark of their dominion. As peace once more split 
up the Berbers, the subjected Spaniards became 
strong by union, till at length the death-knell of 
Moorish rule in Europe sounded at the nuptials of 
the famous Ferdinand and Isabella, linking Aragon 
with proud Castile. 

Expelled from Spain, the Moor long cherished 
plans for the recovery of what had been lost, pre- 
paring fleets and armies for the purpose, but in vain. 
Though nominally still united, his people lacked that 
zeal in a common cause which had carried them 
across the straits before, and by degrees the 
attempts to recover a kingdom dwindled into con- 
tinued attacks upon shipping and coast towns. 
Thus arose that piracy which was for several 
centuries the scourge of Christendom. Further east 
a distinct race of pirates flourished, including Turks 
and Greeks and ruffians from every shore, but they 
were not Moors, of whom the Salli rover was the 
type. Many thousands of Europeans were carried 
off by Moorish corsairs into slavery, including not 



8 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

a few from England. Those who renounced their 
own religion and nationality, accepting those of their 
captors, became all but free, only being prevented 
from leaving the country, and often rose to im- 
portant positions. Those who had the courage of 
their convictions suffered much, being treated like 
cattle, or worse, but they could be ransomed when 
their price was forthcoming — a privilege abandoned 
by the renegades — so that the principal object of 
every European embassy in those days was the 
redemption of captives. Now and then escapes 
would be accomplished, but such strict watch was 
kept when foreign merchantmen were in port, or 
when foreign ambassadors came and went, that few 
attempts succeeded, though many were made. 

Sympathies are stirred by pictures of the mar- 
tyrdom of Englishmen and Irishmen, Franciscan 
missionaries to the Moors ; and side by side with 
them the foreign mercenaries in the native service, 
Englishmen among them, who would fight in any 
cause for pay and plunder, even though their 
masters held their countrymen in thrall. And thrall 
it was, as that of Israel in Egypt, when our sailors 
were chained to galley seats beneath the lash of a 
Moor, or when they toiled beneath a broiling sun 
erecting the grim palace walls of concrete which still 
stand as witnesses of those fell days. Bought and 
sold in the market like cattle, Europeans were more 
despised than Negroes, who at least acknowledged 
Mohammed as their prophet, and accepted their lot 
without attempt to escape. 

Dark days were those for the honour of Europe, 
when the Moors inspired terror from the Balearics 
to the Scilly Isles, and when their rovers swept the 



RETROSPECTIVE 9 

seas with such effect that all the powers of Christen- 
dom were fain to pay them tribute. Large sums of 
money, too, collected at church doors and by the 
sale of indulgences, were conveyed by the hands of 
intrepid friars, noble men who risked all to relieve 
those slaves who had maintained their faith, having 
scorned to accept a measure of freedom as the 
reward of apostasy. Thousands of English and 
other European slaves were liberated through the 
assistance of friendly letters from Royal hands, as 
when the proud Queen Bess addressed Ahmad II., 
surnamed "the Golden," as "Our Brother after the 
Law of Crown and Sceptre," or when Queen Anne 
exchanged compliments with the bloodthirsty Ismdil, 
who ventured to ask for the hand of a daughter of 
Louis XIV. 

In the midst of it all, when that wonderful man, 
with a household exceeding Solomon's, and several 
hundred children, had reigned forty-three of his 
fifty- five years, the English, in 1684, ceded to him 
their possession of Tangier. For twenty-two years 
the " Castle in the streights mouth," as General 
Monk had described it, had been the scene of as 
disastrous an attempt at colonization as we have 
ever known : misunderstanding of the circumstances 
and mismanagement throughout ; oppression, pecu- 
lation and terror within as well as without ; a con- 
stant warfare with incompetent or corrupt officials 
within as with besieging Moors without ; till at 
last the place had to be abandoned in disgust, 
and the expensive mole and fortifications were 
destroyed lest others might seize what we could 
not hold. 

Such events could only lower the prestige of 



lo LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Europeans, if, indeed, they possessed any, in the 
eyes of the Moors, and the slaves up country re- 
ceived worse treatment than before. Even the 
ambassadors and consuls of friendly powers were 
treated with indignities beyond belief. Some were 
imprisoned on the flimsiest pretexts, all had to 
appear before the monarch in the most abject 
manner, and many were constrained to bribe the 
favourite wives of the ameers to secure their 
requests. It is still the custom for the state re- 
ception to take place in an open courtyard, the 
ambassador standing bareheaded before the mounted 
Sultan under his Imperial parasol. As late as 
1790 the brutal Sultan El Yazeed, who emulated 
Ismail the Bloodthirsty, did not hesitate to declare 
war on all Christendom except England, agreeing 
to terms of peace on the basis of tribute. Co- 
operation between the Powers was not then thought 
of, and one by one they struck their bargains as 
they are doing again to-day. 

Yet even at the most violent period of Moorish 
misrule it is a remarkable fact that Europeans were 
allowed to settle and trade in the Empire, in all 
probability as little molested there as they would 
have been had they remained at home, by varying 
religious tests and changing governments. It is 
almost impossible to conceive, without a perusal 
of the literature of the period, the incongruity of 
the position. Foreign slaves would be employed 
in ofansfs outside the dwellinsfs of free fellow- 
countrymen with whom they were forbidden to 
communicate, while every returning pirate captain 
added to the number of the captives, sometimes 
bringing friends and relatives of those who lived in 



RETROSPECTIVE ii 

freedom as the Sultan's "guests," though he con- 
sidered himself "at war" with their Governments. 
So little did the Moors understand the position of 
things abroad, that at one time they made war upon 
Gibraltar, while expressing the warmest friendship 
for England, who then possessed it. This was done 
by Mulai Abd Allah V., in 1756, because, he said, 
the Governor had helped his rebel uncle at Arzila, 
so that the English, his so-called friends, did more 
harm than his enemies — the Portuguese and 
Spaniards. " My father and I believe," wrote his 
son, Sidi Mohammed, to Admiral Pawkers, "that 
the king your master has no knowledge of the 
behaviour towards us of the Governor of Gibraltar, 
... so Gibraltar shall be excluded from the peace 
to which I am willing to consent between England 
and us, and with the aid of the Almighty God, I 
will know how to avenge myself as I may on the 
English of Gibraltar." 

Previously Spain and Portugal had held the 
principal Moroccan seaports, the twin towns of 
Rabat and Salli alone remaining always Moorish, 
but these two in their turn set up a sort of inde- 
pendent republic, nourished from the Berber tribes 
in the mountains to the south of them. No Euro- 
peans live in Salli yet, for here the old fanaticism 
slumbers still. So long as a port remained in 
foreign hands it was completely cut off from the 
surrounding country, and played no part in Moorish 
history, save as a base for periodical incursions. 
One by one most of them fell again into the hands 
of their rightful owners, till they had recovered all 
their Atlantic sea-board. On the Mediterranean, 
Ceuta, which had belonged to Portugal, came under 



12 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

the rule of Spain when those countries were united, 
and the Spaniards hold it still, as they do less 
important positions further east. 

The piracy days of the Moors have long passed, 
but they only ceased at the last moment they could 
do so with grace, before the introduction of steam- 
ships. There was not, at the best of times, much 
of the noble or heroic in their raids, which generally 
took the nature of lying in wait with well-armed, 
many-oared vessels, for unarmed, unwieldy mer- 
chantmen which were becalmed, or were outpaced 
by sail and oar together. 

Early in the nineteenth century Algiers was 
forced to abandon piracy before Lord Exmouth's 
guns, and soon after the Moors were given to 
understand that it could no longer be permitted 
to them either, since the Moorish " fleets " — if 
worthy the name — had grown so weak, and those 
of the Nazarenes so strong, that the tables were 
turned. Yet for many years more the nations of 
Europe continued the tribute wherewith the rapacity 
of the Moors was appeased, and to the United 
States belongs the honour of first refusing this 
disgraceful payment. 

The manner in which the rovers of Salli and 
other ports were permitted to flourish so long can 
be explained in no other way than by the supposition 
that they were regarded as a sort of necessary 
nuisance, just a hornet's-nest by the wayside, which 
it would be hopeless to destroy, as they would 
merely swarm elsewhere. And then we must 
remember that the Moors were not the only 
pirates of those days, and that Europeans have 
to answer for the most terrible deeds of the 



RETROSPECTIVE 13 

Mediterranean corsairs. News did not travel then 
as it does now. Though students of Morocco 
history are amazed at the frequent captures and the 
thousands of Christian slaves so imported, abroad it 
was only here and there that one was heard of 
at a time. 

To-day the plunder of an Italian sailing vessel 
aground on their shore, or the fate of too-confident 
Spanish smugglers running close in with arms, is 
heard of the world round. And in the majority 
of cases there is at least a question : What were 
the victims doing there ? Not that this in any 
way excuses the so-called "piracy," but it must not 
be forgotten in considering the question. Almost 
all these tribes in the troublous districts carry 
European arms, instead of the more picturesque 
native flint-lock : and as not a single gun is legally 
permitted to pass the customs, there must be a 
considerable inlet somewhere, for prices are not 
high. 



II 

THE PRESENT DAY 

" What has passed has gone, and what is to come is distant : 
Thou hast only the hour in which thou art." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Far from being, as Hood described them, "poor 
rejected Moors who raised our childish fears," the 
people of Morocco consist of fine, open races, capable 
of anything-, but literally rotting in one of the finest 
countries of the world. The Moorish remains in 
Spain, as well as the pages of history, testify to the 
manner in which they once flourished, but to-day 
their appearance is that of a nation asleep. Yet 
great strides towards reform have been made during 
the past century, and each decade sees steps taken 
more important than the last. For the present 
decade is promised complete transformation. 

But how little do we know of this people ! The 
very name " Moor " is a European invention, un- 
known in Morocco, where no more precise defini- 
tion of the inhabitants can be given than that of 
"Westerners" — Maghribin, while the land itself is 
known as " The Further West " — El Moghreb el 
Aksa. The name we give to the country is but 
a corruption of that of the southern capital, 
Marrakesh (" Morocco City ") through the Spanish 
version, Marueccos. 



THE PRESENT DAY 15 

The genuine Moroccans are the Berbers among 
whom the Arabs introduced Isldm and its civiHza- 
tion, later bringing Negroes from their raids 
across the Atlas to the Sudan and Guinea. The 
remaining important section of the people are Jews 
of two classes — those settled in the country from 
prehistoric times, and those driven to it when 
expelled from Spain. With the exception of the 
Arabs and the Blacks, none of these pull together, 
and in that case it is only because the latter are 
either subservient to the former, or incorporated 
with them. 

First in importance come the earliest known 
possessors of the land, the Berbers. These are not 
confined to Morocco, but still hold the rocky fast- 
nesses which stretch from the Atlantic, opposite the 
Canaries, to the borders of Egypt ; from the sands 
of the Mediterranean to those of the Sahara, that 
vast extent of territory to which we have given 
their name, Barbary. Of these but a small pro- 
portion really amalgamated with their Muslim 
victors, and it is only to this mixed race which 
occupies the cities of Morocco that the name 
"Moor" is strictly applicable. 

On the plains are to be found the Arabs, their 
tents scattered in every direction. From the 
Atlantic to the Atlas, from Tangier to Mogador, 
and then away through the fertile province of Sus, 
one of the chief features of Morocco is the series of 
wide alluvial treeless plains, often apparently as flat 
as a table, but here and there cut np by winding 
rivers and crossed by low ridges. *l"he fertility of 
these districts is remarkable ; but owing to the mis- 
government of the country, which renders native 



i6 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

property so insecure, only a small portion is culti- 
vated. The untilled slopes which border the plains 
are generally selected by the Arabs for their en- 
campments, circles or ovals of low goat-hair tents, 
each covering a large area in proportion to the 
number of its inhabitants. 

The third section of the people of Morocco — by 
no means the least important — has still to be glanced 
at ; these are the ubiquitous, persecuted and per- 
secuting Jews. Everywhere that money changes 
hands and there is business to be done they are to 
be found. In the towns and among the thatched 
huts of the plains, even in the Berber villages on 
the slopes of the Atlas, they have their colonies. 
With the exception of a few ports wherein European 
rule in past centuries has destroyed the boundaries, 
they are obliged to live in their own restricted 
quarters, and in most instances are only permitted 
to cross the town barefooted and on foot, never to 
ride a horse. In the Atlas they live in separate 
villages adjoining or close to those belonging to 
the Berbers, and sometimes even larger than they. 
Always clad in black or dark-coloured cloaks, with 
hideous black skull-caps or white-spotted blue ker- 
chiefs on their heads, they are conspicuous every- 
where. They address the Moors with a villainous, 
cringing look which makes the sons of Ishmael 
savage, for they know it is only feigned. In return 
they are treated like dogs, and cordial hatred exists 
on both sides. So they live, together yet divided ; 
the Jew despised but indispensable, bullied but 
thriving. He only wins at law when richer than 
his opponent ; against a Muslim he can bear no 
testimony ; there is scant pretence at justice. He 



THE PRESENT DAY 17 

dares not lift his hand to strike a Moor, however ill- 
treated, but he finds reveno-e in sucking: his life's 
blood by usury. Receiving no mercy, he shows 
none, and once in his clutches, his prey is fortunate 
to escape with his life. 

The happy influence of more enlightened 
European Jews is, however, making itself felt in 
the chief towns, through excellent schools supported 
from London and Paris, which are turning out a 
class of highly respectable citizens. While the 
Moors fear the tide of advancing westernization, 
the town Jews court it, and in them centres one of 
the chief prospects of the country's welfare. Into 
their hands has already been gathered much of the 
trade of Morocco, and there can be little doubt that, 
by the end of the thirty years' grace afforded to 
other merchants than the French, they will have 
practically absorbed it all, even the Frenchmen 
trading through them. They have at least the 
intimate knowledge of the people and local con- 
ditions to which so few foreigners ever attain. 

When the Moorish Empire comes to be paci- 
fically penetrated and systematically explored, it 
will probably be found that little more is known 
of it than of China, notwithstanding its proximity, 
and its comparatively insignificant size. A map 
honestly drawn, from observations only, would 
astonish most people by its vast blank spaces.* It 
would be noted that the limit of European explora- 
tion — with the exception of the work of two or 
three hardy travellers in disguise — is less than two 
hundred miles from the coast, and that this limit 

* An approximation to this is given in the writer's " Land of the 
Moors." 

C 



1 8 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

is reached at two points only — south of Fez and 
Marrdkesh respectively, — which form the apices of 
two well-known triangular districts, the contiguous 
bases of which form part of the Atlantic coast line, 
under four hundred miles in length. Beyond these 
limits all is practically unknown, the language, cus- 
toms and beliefs of the people providing abundant 
ground for speculation, and permitting theorists free 
play. So much is this the case, that a few years ago 
an enthusiastic " savant " was able to imagine that he 
had discovered a hidden race of dwarfs beyond the 
Atlas, and to obtain credence for his " find " among 
the best-informed students of Europe. 

But there is also another point of view from 
which Morocco is unknown, that of native thought 
and feeling, penetrated by extremely few Europeans, 
even when they mingle freely with the people, and 
converse with them in Arabic. The real Moor is 
little known by foreigners, a very small number 
of whom mix with the better classes. Some, as 
officials, meet officials, but get little below the official 
exterior. Those who know most seldom speak, 
their positions or their occupations preventing the 
expression of their opinions. Sweeping statements 
about Morocco may therefore be received with 
reserve, and dogmatic assertions with caution. 
This Empire is in no worse condition now than it 
has been for centuries ; indeed, it is much better 
off than ever since its palmy days, and there is no 
occasion whatever to fear its collapse. 

Few facts are more striking in the study of 
Morocco than the absolute stagnation of its people, 
except in so far as they have been to a very limited 
extent affected by outside influences. Of what 



THE PRESENT DAY 19 

European — or even oriental — land could descrip- 
tions of life and manners written in the sixteenth 
century apply as fully in the twentieth as do those 
of Morocco by Leo Africanus ? Or even to come 
later, compare the transitions England has under- 
gone since Host and Jackson wrote a hundred years 
ago, with the changes discoverable in Morocco since 
that time. The people of Morocco remain the same, 
and their more primitive customs are those of far 
earlier ages, of the time when their ancestors lived 
upon the plain of Palestine and North Arabia, and 
when " in the loins of Abraham " the now unfriendly 
Jew and Arab were yet one. It is the position of 
Europeans among them which has changed. 

In the time of Host and Jackson piracy was 
dying hard, restrained by tribute from all the 
Powers of Europe. The foreign merchant was 
not only tolerated, but was at times supplied with 
capital by the Moorish sultans, to whom he was 
allowed to go deeply in debt for custom's dues, and 
half a century later the British Consul at Mogador 
was not permitted to embark to escape a bombard- 
ment of the town, because of his debt to the Sultan. 
Many of the restrictions complained of to-day are 
the outcome of the almost enslaved condition of the 
merchants of those times in consequence of such 
customs. Indeed, the position of the European in 
Morocco is still a series of anomalies, and so it is 
likely to continue until it passes under foreign rule. 

The same old spirit of independence reigns in 
the Berber breast to-day as when he conquered 
Spain, and though he has forgotten his past and 
cares naught for his future, he still considers himself 
a superior being, and feels that no country can rival 



20 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

his home. In his eyes the embassies from Europe 
and America come only to pay the tribute which 
is the price of peace with his lord, and when he 
sees a foreign minister in all his black and gold 
stand in the sun bareheaded to address the mounted 
Sultan beneath his parasol, he feels more proud 
than ever of his greatness, and is more decided 
to be pleasant to the stranger, but to keep him out. 

Instead of increased relations between Moors 
and foreigners tending to friendship, the average 
forei2["n settler or tourist is far too bisjoted and 
narrow-minded to see any good in the native, much 
less to acknowledge his superiority on certain points. 
Wherever the Sultan's authority is recognized the 
European is free to travel and live, though past 
experience has led officials not to welcome him. 
At the same time, he remains entirely under the 
jurisdiction of his own authorities, except in cases 
of murder or grave crime, when he must be at once 
handed over to the nearest consul of his country. 
Not only are he and his household thus protected, 
but also his native employees, and, to a certain 
extent, his commercial and agricultural agents. 

Thus foreigners in Morocco enjoy within the 
limits of the central power the security of their own 
lands, and the justice of their own laws. They do 
not even find in Morocco that immunity from justice 
which some ignorant writers of fiction have supposed ; 
for unless a foreigner abandons his own nationality 
and creed, and buries himself in the interior under 
a native name, he cannot escape the writs of foreign 
courts. In any case, the Moorish authorities will 
arrest him on demand, and hand him over to his 
consul to be dealt with according to law. The 



THE PRESENT DAY 21 

colony of refugees which has been pictured by 
imaginative raconteurs is therefore non-existent. 
Instead there are growing colonies of ibusiness men, 
officials, missionaries, and a few retired residents, 
quite above the average of such colonies in the 
Levant, for instance. 

For many years past, though the actual business 
done has shown a fairly steady increase, the com- 
mercial outlook in Morocco has gone from bad to 
worse. Yet more of its products are now exported, 
and there are more European articles in demand, 
than were thought of twenty years ago. This 
anomalous and almost paradoxical condition is due 
to the increase of competition and the increasing 
weakness of the Government. Men who had hope 
a few years ago, now struggle on because they have 
staked too much to be able to leave for more 
promising fields. This has been especially the 
case since the late Sultan's death. The disturb- 
ances which followed that event impoverished many 
tribes, and left behind a sense of uncertainty and 
dread. No European Bourse is more readily or 
lastingly affected by local political troubles than the 
general trade of a land like Morocco, in which men 
live so much from hand to mouth. 

It is a noteworthy feature of Moorish diplomatic 
history that to the Moors' love of foreign trade we 
owe almost every step that has led to our present 
relations with the Empire. Even while their rovers 
were the terror of our merchantmen, as has been 
pointed out, foreign traders were permitted to reside 
in their ports, the facilities granted to them forming 
the basis of all subsequent negotiations. Now that 
concession after concession has been wrung from 



22 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

their unwilling Government, and in spite of freedom 
of residence, travel, and trade in the most important 
parts of the Empire, it is disheartening to see the 
foreign merchant in a worse condition than ever. 

The previous generation, fewer in number, en- 
joying far less privileges, and subjected to restrictions 
and indignities that would not be suffered to-day, 
were able to make their fortunes and retire, while 
their successors find it hard to hold their own. 
The " hundred tonners " who, in the palmy days of 
Mogador, were wont to boast that they shipped no 
smaller quantities at once, are a dream of the past. 
The ostrich feathers and elephants' tusks no longer 
find their way out by that port, and little gold now 
passes in or out. Merchant princes will never 
be seen here again ; commercial travellers from 
Germany are found in the interior, and quality, as 
well as price, has been reduced to its lowest ebb. 

A crowd of petty trading agents has arisen with 
no capital to speak of, yet claiming and abusing 
credit, of which a most ruinous system prevails, and 
that in a land in which the collection of debts is 
proverbially difficult, and oftentimes impossible. 
The native Jews, who were interpreters and 
brokers years ago, have now learned the business 
and entered the lists. These new competitors 
content themselves with infinitesimal profits, or 
none at all in cases where the desideratum is cash 
to lend out at so many hundreds per cent, per 
annum. Indeed, it is no uncommon practice for 
goods bought on long credit to be sold below cost 
price for this purpose. Against such methods who 
can compete ? 

Yet this is a rich, undeveloped land— not exactly 



THE PRESENT DAY 23 

an El Dorado, though certainly as full of promise 
as any so styled has proved to be when reached — • 
favoured physically and geographically, but politi- 
cally stagnant, cursed with an effete administration, 
fettered by a decrepit creed. In view of this 
situation, it is no wonder that from time to time 
specious schemes appear and disappear with clock- 
work regularity. Now it is in England, now in 
France, that a gambling public is found to hazard 
the cost of proving the impossibility of opening the 
country with a rush, and the worthlessness of so- 
called concessions and monopolies granted by sheikhs 
in the south, who, however they may chafe under 
existing rule which forbids them ports of their own, 
possess none of the powers required to treat with 
foreigners. 

As normal trade has waned in Morocco, busy 
minds have not been slow in devising illicit, or at 
least unusual, methods of making money, even, one 
regrets to say, of making false money. Among 
the drawbacks suffered by the commerce which 
pines under the shade of the shareefian umbrella, 
one — and that far from the least — is the unsatisfac- 
tory coinage, which till a few years ago was almost 
entirely foreign. To have to depend in so im- 
portant a matter on any mint abroad is bad enough, 
but for that mint to be Spanish means much. 
Centuries ago the Moors coined more, but with the 
exception of a horrible token of infinitesimal value 
called ** floos," the products of their extinct mints 
are only to be found in the hands of collectors, in 
buried hoards, or among the jewellery displayed at 
home by Mooresses and Jewesses, whose fortunes, 
so invested, may not be seized for debt. Some 



24 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

of the older issues are thin and square, with well- 
preserved inscriptions, and of these a fine collection 
— mostly gold — may be seen at the British Museum ; 
but the majority, closely resembling those of India 
and Persia, are rudely stamped and unmilled, not 
even round, but thick, and of fairly good metal. 
The " floos " referred to {sing. " fils ") are of three 
sizes, coarsely struck in zinc rendered hard and 
yellow by the addition of a little copper. The 
smallest, now rarely met with, runs about 19,500 
to ^i when this is worth 32 J Spanish pesetas ; the 
other two, still the only small change of the country, 
are respectively double and quadruple its value. 
The next coin in general circulation is worth 2d., 
so the inconvenience is great. A few years ago, 
however, Europeans resident in Tangier resolutely 
introduced among themselves the Spanish ten and 
five centimo pieces, corresponding to our id. and 
^d., which are now in free local use, but are not 
accepted up-country. 

What passes as Moorish money to-day has been 
coined in France for many years, more recently 
also in Germany ; the former is especially neat, but 
the latter lacks style. The denominations coincide 
with those of Spain, whose fluctuations in value they 
closely follow at a respectful distance. This autumn 
the " Hasani" coin — that of Mulai el Hasan, the late 
Sultan — has fallen to fifty per cent, discount on 
Spanish. With the usual perversity also, the common 
standard " peseta," in which small bargains are struck 
on the coast, was omitted, the nearest coin, the 
quarter-dollar, being nominally worth ptas. 1.25. It 
was only after a decade, too, that the Government 
put in circulation the dollars struck in France, 



THE PRESENT DAY 25 

which had hitherto been laid up in the treasury 
as a reserve. And side by side with the German 
issue came abundant counterfeit coins, against which 
Government warnings were published, to the serious 
disadvantage of the legal issue. Even the Spanish 
copper has its rival, and a Frenchman was once 
detected trying to bring in a nominal four hundred 
dollars' worth of an imitation, which he promptly 
threw overboard when the port guards raised 
objections to its quality. 

The increasing need of silver currency inland, 
owing to its free use in the manufacture of trin- 
kets, necessitates a constant importation, and till 
recently all sorts of coins, discarded elsewhere, 
were in circulation. This was the case especially 
with French, Swiss, Belgian, Italian, Greek, Rou- 
manian, and other pieces of the value of twenty 
centimos, known here by the Turkish name *' gursh," 
which were accepted freely in Central Morocco, but 
not in the north. Twenty years ago Spanish 
Carolus, Isabella and Philippine shillings and 
kindred coins were in use all over the country, 
and when they were withdrawn from circulation in 
Spain they were freely shipped here, till the 
country was flooded with them. When the mer- 
chants and customs at last refused them, their 
astute importers took them back at a discount, 
putting them into circulation later at what they 
could, only to repeat the transaction. In Morocco 
everything a man can be induced to take is legal 
tender, and for bribes and religious offerings all 
things pass, this practice being an easier matter 
than at first sight appears ; so in the course of a 
few years one saw a whole series of coins in vogue, 



26 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

one after the other, the main transactions taking 
place on the coast with country Moors, than whom, 
though none more suspicious, none are more easily 
gulled. 

A much more serious obstacle to inland trade is 
the periodically disturbed state of the country, not 
so much the local struggles and uprisings which 
serve to free superfluous energy, as the regular 
administrative expeditions of the Moorish Court, 
or of considerable bodies of troops. These used to 
take place in some direction every year, " the time 
when kings go forth to war " being early summer, 
just when agricultural operations are in full swing, 
and every man is needed on his fields. In one 
district the ranks of the workers are depleted by a 
form of conscription or ** harka," and in another 
these unfortunates are employed preventing others 
doing what they should be doing at home. Thus 
all suffer, and those who are not themselves engaged 
in the campaign are forced to contribute cash, if only 
to find substitutes to take their places in the 
ranks. 

The movement of the Moorish Court means the 
transportation of a numerous host at tremendous 
expense, which has eventually to be recouped in the 
shape of regular contributions, arrears of taxes and 
fines, collected en rotcie, so the pace is abnormally 
slow. Not only is there an absolute absence of 
roads, and, with one or two exceptions, of bridges, 
but the Sultan himself, with all his army, cannot 
take the direct route between his most important 
inland cities without fighting his way. The con- 
figuration of the empire explains its previous sub- 
division into the kingdoms of Fez, Marrakesh, 



THE PRESENT DAY 27 

Tafilalt and Sus, and the Reef, for between the 
plains of each run mountain ranges which have 
never known absolute " foreign " rulers. 

To European engineers the passes through these 
closed districts would offer no great obstacles in the 
construction of roads such as thread the Himalayas, 
but the Moors do not wish for the roads ; for, while 
what the Government fears to promote thereby is 
combination, the actual occupants of the mountains, 
the native Berbers, desire not to see the Arab tax- 
gatherers, only tolerating their presence as long as 
they cannot help it, and then rising against them. 

Often a tribe will be left for several years to enjoy 
independence, while the slip-shod army of the Sultan 
is engaged elsewhere. When its turn comes it holds 
out for terms, since it has no hope of successfully 
confronting such an overwhelming force as is sooner 
or later brought against it. The usual custom is to 
send small detachments of soldiers to the support of 
the over-grasping functionaries, and when they have 
been worsted, to send down an army to *' eat up " 
the province, burning villages, deporting cattle, ill- 
treating the women, and often carrying home 
children as slaves. The men of the district pro- 
bably flee and leave their homes to be ransacked. 
They content themselves with hiding behind crags 
which seem to the plainsmen inaccessible, whence 
they can in safety harass the troops on the march. 
After more or less protracted skirmishing, the 
country having been devastated by the troops, who 
care only for the booty, women will be sent into the 
camp to make terms, or one of the shareefs or 
religious nobles who accompany the army is sent 
out to treat with the rebels. The terms are usually 



28 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

hard — so much arrears of tribute in cash and kind, 
so much as a fine for expenses, so many hostages. 
Then hostages and prisoners are driven to the 
capital in chains, and pickled heads are exposed on 
the gateways, imperial letters being read in the chief 
mosques throughout the country, telling of a glorious 
victory, and calling for rejoicings. To any other 
people the short spell of freedom would have been 
too dearly bought for the experiment to be repeated, 
but as soon as they begin to chafe again beneath 
the lawless rule of Moorish officials, the Berbers 
rebel once more. It has been going on thus for 
hundreds of years, and will continue till put an end 
to by France. 

In Morocco each official preys upon the one 
below him, and on all others within his reach, till 
the poor oppressed and helpless villager lives in 
terror of them all, not daring to display signs of 
prosperity for fear of tempting plunder. Merit is 
no key to positions of trust and authority, and few 
have such sufficient salary attached to render them 
attractive to honest men. The holders are expected 
in most cases to make a living out of the pickings, 
and are allowed an unquestioned run of office till 
they are presumed to have amassed enough to make 
it worth while treating them as they have treated 
others, when they are called to account and relent- 
lessly " squeezed." The only means of staving off 
the fatal day is by frequent presents to those above 
them, wrung from those below. A large proportion 
of Moorish officials end their days in disgrace, if 
not in dungeons, and some meet their end by being 
invited to corrosive sublimate tea, a favourite 
beverage in Morocco^ — for others. Yet there is 



THE PRESENT DAY 29 

always a demand for office, and large prices are 
paid for posts affording opportunities for plunder. 

The Moorish financial system is of a piece with 
this method. When the budget is made out, each 
tribe or district is assessed at the utmost it is 
believed capable of yielding, and the candidate for 
its governorship who undertakes to get most out of 
it probably has the task allotted to him. His first 
duty is to repeat on a small scale the operation 
of the Government, informing himself minutely as 
to the resources under his jurisdiction, and assessing 
the sub-divisions so as to bring in enough for him- 
self, and to provide against contingencies, in addition 
to the sum for which he is responsible. The local 
sheikhs or head-men similarly apportion their 
demands among the individuals entrusted to their 
tender mercy. A fool is said to have once presented 
the Sultan with a bowl of skimmed and watered 
milk, and on being remonstrated with, to have 
declared that His Majesty received no more from 
any one, as his wazeers and governors ate half the 
revenue cream each, and the sheikhs drank half the 
revenue milk. The fool was right. 

The richer a man is, the less proportion he will 
have to pay, for he can make it so agreeable — or 
disagreeable — for those entrusted with a little brief 
authority. It is the struggling poor who have to 
pay or go to prison, even if to pay they have to 
sell their means of subsistence. Three courses lie 
before this final victim — to obtain the protection of 
some influential name, native or foreign, to buy a 
"friend at court," or to enter Nazarene service. 
But native friends are uncertain and hard to find, 
and, above all, they may be alienated by a higher 



30 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

bid from a rival or from a rapacious official. Such 
affairs are of common occurrence, and harrowing 
tales might be told of homes broken up in this way, 
of tortures inflicted, and of lives spent in dungeons 
because display has been indulged in, or because an 
independent position has been assumed under cover 
of a protection that has failed. But what can one 
expect with such a standard of honour ? 

Foreigners, on the other hand, seldom betray 
their pT-ot^gds — although, to their shame be it 
mentioned, some in high places have done so, — 
wherefore their protection is in greater demand ; 
besides which it is more effectual, as coming from 
outside, while no Moor, however well placed, is 
absolutely secure in his own position. Thus it is 
that the down-trodden natives desire and are 
willing to pay for protection in proportion to their 
means ; and it is this power of dispensing protec- 
tion which, though often abused, does more than 
anything else to raise the prestige of the foreigner, 
and in turn to protect him. 

The claims most frequently made against Moors 
by foreign countries are for debt, claims which 
afford the greatest scope for controversy and the 
widest loophole for abuse. Although, unfortunately, 
for the greater part usurious, a fair proportion are 
for goods delivered, but to evade the laws even loan 
receipts are made out as for goods to be delivered, 
a form in which discrimination is extremely difficult. 
The condition of the country, in which every man 
is liable to be arrested, thrashed, imprisoned, if not 
tortured, to extort from him his wealth, is such as 
furnishes the usurer with crowding clients ; and the 
condition of things among the Indian cultivators. 



THE PRESENT DAY 31 

bad as it is, since they can at least turn to a fair- 
handed Government, is not to be compared to that 
of the down-trodden Moorish farmer. 

The assumption by the Government of responsi- 
bility for the debts of its subjects, or at all events 
its undertaking to see that they pay, is part of the 
patriarchal system in force, by which the family is 
made responsible for individuals, the tribe for 
families, and so on. No other system would bring 
offenders to justice without police; but it trans- 
forms each man into his brother's keeper. This, 
however, does not apply only to debts the collection 
of which is urged upon the Government, for whom 
it is sufficient to produce the debtor and let him 
prove absolute poverty for him to be released,- 
with the claim cancelled. This in theory : but 
in practice, to appease these claims, however 
just, innocent men are often thrown into prison, 
and untold horrors are suffered, in spite of all 
the efforts of foreign ministers to counteract the 
injustice. 

A mere recital of tales which have come under 
my own observation would but harrow my readers' 
feelings to no purpose, and many would appear 
incredible. With the harpies of the Government 
at their heels, men borrow wildly for a month or 
two at cent, per cent., and as the Moorish law 
prohibits interest, a document is sworn to before 
notaries by which the borrower declares that he has 
that day taken in hard cash the full amount to be 
repaid, the value of certain crops or produce of 
which he undertakes delivery upon a certain date. 
Very seldom, indeed, does it happen that by that 
date the money can be repaid, and generally the 



32 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

only terms offered for an extension of time for 
another three or six months are the addition of 
another fifty or one hundred per cent, to the debt, 
always fully secured on property, or by the bonds of 
property holders. Were not this thing of every- 
day occurrence in Morocco, and had I not examined 
scores of such papers, the way in which the ignorant 
Moors fall into such traps would seem incredible. 
It is usual to blame the Jews for it all, and though 
the business lies mostly in their hands, it must 
not be overlooked that many foreigners engage in 
it, and, though indirectly, some Moors also. 

But besides such claims, there is a large pro- 
portion of just business debts which need to be 
enforced. It does not matter how fair a claim 
may be, or how legitimate, it is very rarely that 
trouble is not experienced in pressing it. The 
Moorish Courts are so venal, so degraded, that it 
is more often the unscrupulous usurer who wins his 
case and applies the screw, than the honest trader. 
Here lies the rub. Another class of claims is for 
damage done, loss suffered, or compensation for 
imaginary wrongs. All these together mount up, 
and a newly appointed minister or consul-general 
is aghast at the list which awaits him. He probably 
contents himself at first with asking for the appoint- 
ment of a commission to examine and report on the 
legality of all these claims, and for the immediate 
settlement of those approved. But he asks and is 
promised in vain, till at last he obtains the moral 
support of war-ships, in view of which the Moorish 
Government most likely pays much more than it 
would have got off with at first, and then proceeds 
to victimize the debtors. 



THE PRESENT DAY 33 

It Is with expressed threats of bombardment 
that the ships come, but experience has taught 
the Moorish Government that it Is well not to let 
things go that length, and they now invariably 
settle amicably. To our western notions it may 
seem strange that whatever questions have to be 
attended to should not be put out of hand without 
requiring such a demonstration ; but while there is 
sleep there is hope for an Oriental, and the rulers 
of Morocco would hardly be Moors if they resisted 
the temptation to procrastinate, for who knows what 
may happen while they delay ? And then there is 
always the chance of driving a bargain, so dear to 
the Moorish heart, for the wazeer knows full well 
that although the Nazarene may be prepared to 
bombard, as he has done from time to time, he is 
no more desirous than the Sultan that such an 
extreme measure should be necessary. 

So, even when things come to the pinch, and the 
exasperated representative of Christendom talks 
hotly of withdrawing, hauling down his flag and 
giving hostile orders, there is time at least to make 
an offer, or to promise everything in words. And 
when all is over, claims paid, ships gone, compli- 
ments and presents passed, nothing really serious 
has happened, just the everyday scene on the 
market applied to the nation, while the Moorish 
Government has once more given proof of worldly 
wisdom, and endorsed the proverb that discretion 
Is the better part of valour. 

An Illustration of the high-handed way In which 
things are done In Morocco has but recently been 
afforded by the action of France regarding an 
alleged Algerian subject arrested by the Moorish 

D 



34 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

authorities for conspiracy. The man, Boo Zian 
Milidni by name, was the son of one of those 
Algerians who, when their country was conquered 
by the French, preferred exile to submission, and 
migrated to Morocco, where they became naturalized. 
He was charged with supporting the so-called " pre- 
tender" in the Reef province, where he was arrested 
with two others early in August last. His par- 
ticular offence appears to have been the reading 
of the " Rogi's " proclamations to the public, and 
inciting them to rebel against the Sultan. But 
when brought a prisoner to Tangier, and thence 
despatched to Fez, he claimed French citizenship, 
and the Minister of France, then at Court, de- 
manded his release. 

This being refused, a peremptory note followed, 
with a threat to break off diplomatic negotiations if 
the demand were not forthwith complied with. The 
usual corunmniquds were made to the Press, whereby 
a chorus was produced setting forth the insult to 
France, the imminence of war, and the general gravity 
of the situation. Many alarming head-lines were 
provided for the evening papers, and extra copies 
were doubtless sold. In Morocco, however, not 
only the English and Spanish papers, but also the 
French one, admitted that the action of France was 
wrong, though the ultimate issue was never in doubt, 
and the man's release was a foregone conclusion. 
Elsewhere the rights of the matter would have been 
sifted, and submitted at least to the law-courts, if 
not to arbitration. 

While the infliction of this indignity was stir- 
ring up northern Morocco, the south was greatly 
exercised by the presence on the coast of a French 



THE PRESENT DAY 35 

vessel, L'Aigle, officers from which proceeded osten- 
tatiously to survey the fortifications of Mogador 
and its island, and then effected a landing on the 
latter by night. Naturally the coastguards fired at 
them, fortunately without causing damage, but had 
any been killed, Europe would have rung with the 
"outrage." From Mogador the vessel proceeded 
after a stay of a month to Agadir, the first port of 
Sus, closed to Europeans. 

Here its landing-party was met on the beach by 
some hundreds of armed men, whose commander 
resolutely forbade them to land, so they had to 
retire. Had they not done so, who would answer 
for the consequences } As it was, the natives, 
eager to attack the "invaders," were with diffi- 
culty kept in hand, and one false step would un- 
doubtedly have led to serious bloodshed. Of course 
this was a dreadful rebuff for " pacific penetration," 
but the matter was kept quiet as a little premature, 
since in Europe the coast is not quite clear enough 
yet for retributory measures. The effect, however, 
on the Moors, among whom the affair grew more 
grave each time it was recited, was out of all propor- 
tion to the real importance of the incident, which 
otherwise might have passed unnoticed. 



Ill 

BEHIND THE SCENES 

" He knows of every vice an ounce.' 

Moorish Proverb. 

Though most eastern lands may be described as 
slip-shod, with reference both to the feet of their 
inhabitants and to the way in which things are done, 
there can be no country in the world more aptly 
described by that epithet than Morocco. One of 
the first things which strikes the visitor to this 
country is the universality of the slipper as foot- 
gear, at least, so far as the Moors are concerned. 
In the majority of cases the men wear the heels 
of their slippers folded down under the feet, only 
putting them up when necessity compels them to 
run, which they take care shall not be too often, 
as they much prefer a sort of ambling gait, best 
compared to that of their mules, or to that of an 
English tramp. 

Nothing delights them better as a means of 
agreeably spending an hour or two, than squatting 
on their heels in the streets or on some door- 
stoop, gazing at the passers-by, exchanging compli- 
ments with their acquaintances. Native " swells " 
consequently promenade with a piece of felt under 
their arms on which to sit when they wish, in 

36 



BEHIND THE SCENES 37 

addition to its doing duty as a carpet for prayer. 
The most public places, and usually the cool of 
the afternoon, are preferred for this pastime. 

The ladies of their Jewish neighbours also like 
to sit at their doors in groups at the same hour, or 
in the doorways of main thoroughfares on moon- 
light evenings, while the gentlemen, who prefer 
to do their gossiping afoot, roam up and down. 
But this is somewhat apart from the point of the 
lazy tendencies of the Moors. With them — since 
they have no trains to catch, and disdain punctuality 
— all hurry is undignified, and one could as easily 
imagine an elegantly dressed Moorish scribe literally 
flying as running, even on the most urgent errand. 
"Why run," they ask, "when you might just as 
well walk ? Why walk, when standing would do ? 
Why stand, when sitting is so much less fatiguing ? 
Why sit, when lying down gives so much more rest ? 
And why, lying down, keep your eyes open ? " 

In truth, this is a country in which things are 
left pretty much to look after themselves. Nothing 
is done that can be left undone, and everything is 
postponed until "to-morrow." Slipper-slapper go 
the people, and slipper-slapper goes their policy. 
If you can get through a duty by only half doing 
it, by all means do so, is the generally accepted rule 
of life. In anything you have done for you by a 
Moor, you are almost sure to discover that he has 
" scamped" some part; perhaps the most important. 
This, of course, means doing a good deal yourself, 
if you like things done well, a maxim holding good 
everywhere, indeed, but especially here. 

The Moorish Government's way of doing things 
— or rather, of not doing them if it can find an 



38 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

excuse — is eminently slip-shod. The only point in 
which they show themselves astute is in seeing that 
their Rubicon has a safe bridge by which they may 
retreat, if that suits their plans after crossing it. To 
deceive the enemy they hide this as best they can, 
for the most part successfully, causing the greatest 
consternation in the opposite camp, which, at the 
moment when it thinks it has driven them into a 
corner, sees their ranks gradually thinning from 
behind, dribbling away by an outlet hitherto in- 
visible. Thus, in accepting a Moors promise, 
one must always consider the conditions or rider 
annexed. 

This can be well illustrated by the reluctant 
permission to transport grain from one Moorish 
port to another, granted from time to time, but so 
hampered by restrictions as to be only available to 
a few, the Moorish Government itself deriving the 
greatest advantage from it. Then, too, there is the 
property clause in the Convention of Madrid, which 
has been described as the sop by means of which 
the Powers were induced to accept other less 
favourable stipulations. Instead of being the step 
in advance which it appeared to be, it was, in 
reality, a backward step, the conditions attached 
making matters worse than before. 

In this way only do the Moors shine as politi- 
cians, unless prevarication and procrastination be 
included, Machiavellian arts in which they easily 
excel. Otherwise they are content to jog along 
in the same slip-shod manner as their fathers did 
centuries ago, as soon as prosperity had removed 
the incentive to exert the energy they once 
possessed. The same carelessness marks their 



BEHIND THE SCENES 39 

conduct in everything, and the same unsatisfactory 
results inevitably follow. 

But to get at the root of the matter it is neces- 
sary to go a step further. The absolute lack of 
morals among the people is the real cause of the 
trouble. Morocco is so deeply sunk in the degrada- 
tion of vice, and so given up to lust, that it is 
impossible to lay bare its deplorable condition. In 
most countries, with a fair proportion of the pure 
and virtuous, some attempt is made to gloss over 
and conceal one's failings ; but in this country the 
only vice which public opinion seriously condemns 
is drunkenness, and it is only before foreigners that 
any sense of shame or desire for secrecy about 
others is observable. The Moors have not yet 
attained to that state of hypocritical sanctimonious- 
ness in which modern society in civilized lands 
delights to parade itself. 

The taste for strong drink, though still indulged 
comparatively in secret, is steadily increasing, the 
practice spreading from force of example among the 
Moors themselves, as a result of the strenuous 
efforts of foreigners to inculcate this vice. Euro- 
pean consular reports not infrequently note with 
congratulation the growing imports of wines and 
liqueurs into Morocco, nominally for the sole use 
of foreigners, although manifestly far in excess of 
their requirements. As yet, it is chiefly among the 
higher and lower classes that the victims are found, 
the former indulging in the privacy of their own 
homes, and the latter at the low drinking-dens 
kept by the scum of foreign settlers in the open 
ports. Among the country people of the plains 
and lower hills there are hardly any who would touch 



40 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

intoxicating liquor, though among the mountaineers 
the use of alcohol has ever been more common. 

Tobacco smoking is very general on the coast, 
owing to contact with Europeans, but still compara- 
tively rare in the interior, although the native pre- 
parations of hemp (keef), and also to some extent 
opium, have a large army of devotees, more or less 
victims. The latter, however, being an expensive 
import, is less known in the interior. Snuff-taking 
is fairly general among men and women, chiefly the 
elderly. What they take is very strong, being a 
composition of tobacco, walnut shells, and charcoal 
ash. The writer once saw a young Englishman, 
who thought he could stand a good pinch of snuff, 
fairly *' knocked over " by a quarter as much as the 
owner of the nut from which it came took with the 
utmost complacency. 

The feeling of the Moorish Government about 
smoking has long been so strong that in every 
treaty with Europe is inserted a clause reserving 
the right of prohibiting the importation of all nar- 
cotics, or articles used in their manufacture or con- 
sumption. Till a few years ago the right to deal in 
these was granted yearly as a monopoly; but in 
1887 the late Sultan, Mulai el Hasan, and his 
aoldma, or councillors, decided to abolish the busi- 
ness altogether, so, purchasing the existing stocks 
at a valuation, they had the whole burned. But 
first the foreign officials and then private foreigners 
demanded the right to import whatever they needed 
" for their own consumption," and the abuse of this 
courtesy has enabled several tobacco factories to 
spring up in the country. The position with regard 
to the liquor traffic is almost the same. If the 



BEHIND THE SCENES 41 

Moors were free to legislate as they wished, they 
would at once prohibit the importation of in- 
toxicants. 

Of late years, however, a great change has 
come over the Moors of the ports, more especially 
so in Tangier, where the number of taverns and 
cafis has increased most rapidly. During many 
years' residence there the cases of drunkenness met 
with could be counted on the fingers, and were then 
confined to guides or servants of foreigners ; on the 
last visit paid to the country more were observed 
in a month than then in years. In those days to 
be seen with a cigarette was almost a crime, and 
those who indulged in a whiff at home took care to 
deodorize their mouths with powdered coffee ; now 
Moors sit with Europeans, smoking and drinking, 
unabashed, at tables in the streets, but not those 
of the better sort. Thus Morocco is becoming 
civilized ! 

However ashamed a Moor may be of drunken- 
ness, no one thinks of making a pretence of being 
chaste or moral. On the contrary, no worse is 
thought of a man who is wholly given up to the 
pleasures of the flesh than of one who is addicted 
to the most innocent amusements. If a Moor is 
remonstrated with, he declares he is not half so 
bad as the ** Nazarenes " he has come across, who, 
in addition to practising most of his vices, indulge 
in drunkenness. It is not surprising, therefore, 
that the diseases which come as a penalty for these 
vices are fearfully prevalent in Morocco. Every- 
where one comes across the ravages of such plagues, 
and is sickened at the sight of their victims. With- 
out going further into details, it will suffice to 



42 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

mention that one out of every five patients (mostly 
males) who attend at the dispensary of the North 
Africa Mission at Tangier are direct, or indirect, 
sufferers from these complaints. 

The Moors believe in *' sowing wild oats " when 
young, till their energy is extinguished, leaving 
them incapable of accomplishing anything. Then 
they think the pardon of God worth invoking, if 
only in the vain hope of having their youth renewed 
as the eagle's. Yet if this could happen, they 
would be quite ready to commence a fresh series 
of follies more outrageous than before. This is a 
sad picture, but nevertheless true, and, far from 
being exaggerated, does not even hint at much that 
exists in Morocco to-day. 

The words of the Koran about such matters 
are never considered, though nominally the sole 
guide for life. The fact that God is " the Pitying, 
the Pitiful, King of the Day of Judgement," is con- 
sidered sufficient warrant for the devotees of Islam 
to lightly indulge in breaches of laws which they 
hold to be His, confident that if they only perform 
enough "vain repetitions," fast at the appointed times, 
and give alms, visiting Mekka, if possible, or if not, 
making pilgrimages to shrines of lesser note nearer 
home, God, in His infinite mercy, will overlook all. 

An anonymous writer has aptly remarked — 
*' Every good Mohammedan has a perpetual free 
pass over that line, which not only secures to him 
personally a safe transportation to Paradise, but 
provides for him upon his arrival there so luxuriously 
that he can leave all the cumbersome baggage of 
his earthly harem behind him, and begin his celestial 
house- keeping with an entirely new outfit." 



BEHIND THE SCENES 43 

Here lies the whole secret of Morocco's back- 
ward state. Her people, having outstepped even 
the ample limits of licentiousness laid down in the 
Koran, and having long ceased to be even true 
Mohammedans, by the time they arrive at manhood 
have no energy left to promote her welfare, and 
sink into an indolent, procrastinating race, capable of 
little in the way of progress till a radical change 
takes place in their morals. 

Nothing betrays their moral condition more 
clearly than their unrestrained conversation, a 
reeking vapour arising from a mass of corruption. 
The foul ejaculations of an angry Moor are unre- 
producible, only serving to show extreme familiarity 
with vice of every sort. The tales to which they 
delight to listen, the monotonous chants rehearsed 
by hired musicians at public feasts or private enter- 
tainments, and the voluptuous dances they delight 
to have performed before them as they lie sipping 
forbidden liquors, are all of one class, recounting 
and suggesting evil deeds to hearers or observers. 

The constant use made of the name of God, 
mostly in stock phrases uttered without a thought 
as to their real meaning, is counterbalanced in some 
measure by cursing of a most elaborate kind, and 
the frequent mention of the " Father of Lies," called 
by them " The Liar " par excelle^tce. The term 
" elaborate " is the only one wherewith to describe 
a curse so carefully worded that, if executed, it would 
leave no hope of Paradise either for the unfortunate 
addressee or his ancestors for several generations. 
On the slightest provocation, or without that excuse, 
the Moor can roll forth the most intricate genea- 
logical objurgations, or rap out an oath. In ordinary 



44 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

cases of displeasure he is satisfied with showering 
expletives on the parents and grand-parents of the 
object of his wrath, with derogatory allusions to the 
morals of those worthies' "better halves." "May- 
God have mercy on thy relatives, O my Lord," is 
a common way of addressing a stranger respectfully, 
and the contrary expression is used to produce a 
reverse effect. 

I am often asked, " What would a Moor think 
of this ? " Probably some great invention will be 
referred to, or some manifest improvement in our 
eyes over Moorish methods or manufactures. If 
it was something he could see, unless above the 
average, he would look at it as a cow looks at a new 
gate, without intelligence, realizing only the change, 
not the cause or effect. By this time the Moors 
are becoming familiar, at least by exaggerated 
descriptions, with most of the foreigner's freaks, 
and are beginning to refuse to believe that the 
Devil assists us, as they used to, taking it for 
granted that we should be more ingenious, and 
they more wise ! The few who think are apt to 
pity the rush of our lives, and write us down, from 
what they have themselves observed in Europe as 
in Morocco, as grossly immoral beside even their 
acknowledged failings. The faults of our civilization 
they quickly detect, the advantages are mostly 
beyond their comprehension. 

Some years ago a friend of mine showed two 
Moors some of the sights of London. When they 
saw St. Paul's they told of the glories of the 
Karueein mosque at Fez ; with the towers of 
Westminster before them they sang the praises 
of the Ktittibiya at Marrakesh. Whatever they 



BEHIND THE SCENES 45 

saw had its match in Morocco. But at last, as a 
huge dray-horse passed along the highway with its 
heavy load, one grasped the other's arm convulsively, 
exclaiming, " M'bark Allah! Aoiid hadha ! "— 
" Blessed be God ! That's a horse ! " Here at 
least was something that did appeal to the heart 
of the Arab. For once he saw a creature he could 
understand, the like of which was never bred in 
Barbary, and his wonder knew no bounds. 

An equally good story is told of an Englishman 
who endeavoured to convince a Moor at home of 
the size of these horses. With his stick he drew on 
the ground one of their full-sized shoes. " But we 
have horses beyond the mountains with shoes this 
size," was the ready reply, as the native drew 
another twice as big. Annoyed at not being able 
to convince him, the Englishman sent home for a 
specimen shoe. When he showed it to the Moor, 
the only remark he elicited was that a native smith 
could make one twice the size. Exasperated now, 
and not to be outdone, the Englishman sent home 
for a cart-horse skull. " Now you've beaten 
me ! " at last acknowledged the Moor. " You 
Christians can make anything, but we can't make 
bones ! " 

Bigoted and fanatical as the Moors may show 
themselves at times, they are generally willing 
enough to be friends with those who show them- 
selves friendly. And notwithstanding the way in 
which the strong oppress the weak, as a nation 
they are by no means treacherous or cruel ; on the 
contrary, the average Moor is genial and hospitable, 
does not forget a kindness, and is a man whom one 
can respect. Yet it is strange how soon a little 



46 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

power, and the need for satisfying the demands of 
his superiors, will corrupt the mildest of them ; 
and the worst are to be found among families 
which have inherited office. The best officials 
are those chosen from among retired merchants 
whose palms no longer itch, and who, by inter- 
course with Europeans, have had their ideas of life 
broadened. 

The greatest obstacle to progress in Morocco is 
the blind prejudice of ignorance. It is hard for the 
Moors to realize that their presumed hereditary foes 
can wish them well, and it is suspicion, rather than 
hostility, which induces them to crawl within their 
shell and ask to be left alone. Too often sub- 
sequent events have shown what good ground they 
have had for suspicion. It is a pleasure for me to 
be able to state that during all the years that I have 
lived among them, often in the closest intercourse, 
I have never received the least insult, but have 
been well repaid in my own coin. What more 
could be wished ? 



IV 
THE BERBER RACE 

" Every lion in his own forest roars." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Few who glibly use the word '' Barbarian " pause 
to consider whether the present meaning attached 
to the name is justified or not, or whether the 
people of Barbary are indeed the uncivilized, un- 
couth, incapable lot their name would seem to imply 
to-day. In fact, the popular ignorance regarding 
the nearest point of Africa is even greater than of 
the actually less known central portions, where the 
white man penetrates with every risk. To declare 
that the inhabitants of the four Barbary States — 
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripoli — are not 
"Blackamoors" at all, but white like ourselves, is 
to astonish most folk at the outset. 

Of course in lands where the enslavement of 
neighbouring negro races has been an institution for 
a thousand years or more, there is a goodly propor- 
tion of mulattoes ; and among those whose lives have 
been spent for generations in field work there are 
many whose skins are bronzed and darkened, but 
they are white by nature, nevertheless, and town 
life soon restores the original hue. The student 
class of Fez, drawn from all sections of the popula- 
tion of Morocco, actually makes a boast of the pale 

47 



48 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

and pasty complexions attained by life amid the 
shaded cloisters and covered streets of the intel- 
lectual capital. Then again those who are sun- 
burned and bronzed are more of the Arab stock 
than of the Berber. 

These Berbers, the original Barbarians, known 
to the Romans and Greeks as such before the Arab 
was heard of outside Arabia, are at once the 
greatest and the most interesting nation, or rather 
race, of the whole of Africa. Had such a coali- 
tion as " the United States of North Africa " been 
possible, Europe would long ago have learned to 
fear and respect the title " Barbarian " too much to 
put it to its present use. But the weak point of the 
Berber race has been its lack of homogeneity ; it 
has ever been split up into independent states and 
tribes, constantly indulging in internecine warfare. 
This is a principle which has its origin in the rela- 
tions of the units whereof they are composed, of 
whom it may be said as of the sons of Ishmael, that 
every man's hand is against his neighbour. The 
vendetta, a result of the lex talionis of " eye for eye 
and tooth for tooth," flourishes still. No youth is 
supposed to have attained full manhood until he has 
slain his man, and excuses are seldom lacking. The 
greatest insult that can be offered to an enemy is to 
tell him that his father died in bed — even greater 
than the imputation of evil character to his maternal 
relatives. 

Some years ago I had in my service a lad of 
about thirteen, one of several Reefians whom I had 
about me for the practice of their language. Two 
or three years later, on returning to Morocco, I met 
him one day on the market. 



THE BERBER RACE 49 

" I am so glad to see you," he said ; " 1 want you 
to help me buy some guns." 

" What for ? " 

" Well, my father's dead ; may God have mercy 
on him ! " 

"How did he die ?" 

" God knows." 

" But what has that to do with the gun ? " 

" You see, we must kill my three uncles, I and 
my two brothers, and we want three guns." 

" What I Did they kill your father ? " 

" God knows." 

" May He deliver you from such a deed. Come 
round to the house for some food." 

" But I've got married since you saw me, and 
expect an heir, yet they chaff me and call me a boy 
because I have never yet killed a man." 

I asked an old servant who had been to England, 
and seemed " almost a Christian," to try and dis- 
suade him, but only to meet with an appreciative, 
" Well done ! I always thought there was some- 
thing in that lad." 

So I tried a second, but with worse results, for 
he patted the boy on the back with an assurance 
that he could not dissuade him from so sacred a 
duty ; and at last I had to do what I could myself. 
I extorted a promise that he would try and arrange 
to take blood-money, but as he left the door his eye 
fell on a broken walking-stick. 

" Oh, do give me that ! It's no use to you, and 
it would make such a nice prop for my gun, as I am 
a very bad shot, and we mean to wait outside for 
them in the dark." 

The sequel I have never heard. 

E 



so LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Up in those mountains every one lives in 
fortified dwellings — big men in citadels, others in 
wall-girt villages, all from time to time at war 
with one another, or with the dwellers in some 
neighbouring valley. Fighting is their element ; as 
soon as " the powder speaks " there are plenty to 
answer, for every one carries his gun, and it is 
wonderful how soon upon these barren hills an 
armed crowd can muster. Their life is a hard fight 
with Nature ; all they ask is to be left alone to 
fight it out among themselves. Even on the plains 
among the Arabs and the mixed tribes described as 
Moors, things are not much better, for there, too, 
vendettas and cattle lifting keep them at logger- 
heads, and there is nothing the clansmen like so 
well as a raid on the Governor's kasbah or castle. 
These kasbahs are great walled strongholds dotted 
about the country ; in times of peace surrounded 
by groups of huts and tents, whose inhabitants take 
refuge inside when their neighbours appear. The 
high walls and towers are built of mud concrete, 
often red like the Alhambra, the surface of which 
stands the weather ill, but which, when kept in 
repair, lasts for centuries. 

The Reefian Berbers are among the finest men 
in Morocco — warlike and fierce, it is true, from long 
habit and training ; but they have many excellent 
qualities, in addition to stalwart frames. "If you 
don't want to be robbed," say they, "don't come 
our way. We only care to see men who can fight, 
with whom we may try our luck." They will come 
and work for Europeans, forming friendships among 
them, and if it were not for the suspicion of those 
who have not done so, who always fear political 



THE BERBER RACE 51 

agents and spies, they would often be willing to 
take Europeans through their land. I have more 
than once been invited to go as a Moor. But the 
ideas they get of Europeans in Tangier do not 
predispose to friendship, and they will not allow 
them to enter their territories if they can help it. 
Only those who are in subjection to the Sultan 
permit them to do so freely. 

The men are a hardy, sturdy race, wiry and lithe, 
inured to toil and cold, fonder far of the gun and 
sword than of the ploughshare, and steady riders of 
an equally wiry race of mountain ponies. Their 
dwellings are of stone and mud, often of two floors, 
flat-topped, with rugged, projecting eaves, the roofs 
being made of poles covered with the same material 
as the walls, stamped and smoothed. These houses 
are seldom whitewashed, and present a ruinous 
appearance. Their ovens are domes about three 
feet or less in height outside ; they are heated by a 
fire inside, then emptied, and the bread put in. 
Similar ovens are employed in camp to bake for 
the Court. 

Instead of that forced seclusion and concealment 
of the features to which the followers of Islam else- 
where doom their women, in these mountain homes 
they enjoy almost as perfect liberty as their sisters 
in Europe. I have been greatly struck with their 
intelligence and generally superior appearance to 
such Arab women as I have by chance been able 
to see. Once, when supping with the son of a 
powerful governor from above Fez, his mother, 
wife, and wife's sister sat composedly to eat with 
us, which could never have occurred in the dwelling 
of a Moor. No attempt at covering their faces was 



52 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

made, though male attendants were present at times, 
but the little daughter shrieked at the sight of a 
Nazarene. The grandmother, a fine, buxom dame, 
could read and write — which would be an astonish- 
ing accomplishment for a Moorish woman — and she 
could converse better than many men who would in 
this country pass for educated. 

The Berber dress has either borrowed from or 
lent much to the Moor, but a few articles stamp 
it wherever worn. One of these is a large black 
cloak of goat's-hair, impervious to rain, made of 
one piece, with no arm-holes. At the point of the 
cowl hangs a black tassel, and right across the back, 
about the level of the knees, runs an assagai-shaped 
patch, often with a centre of red. It has been 
opined that this remarkable feature represents the 
All-seeing Eye, so often used as a charm, but from 
the scanty information I could gather from the 
people themselves, I believe that they have lost 
sight of the original idea, though some have told 
me that variations in the pattern mark clan distinc- 
tions. I have ridden — when in the guise of a 
native — for days together in one of these cloaks, 
during pelting rain which never penetrated it. In 
more remote districts, seldom visited by Europeans, 
the garments are ruder far, entirely of undyed wool, 
and unsewn, mere blankets with slits cut in the 
centre for the head. This is, however, in every 
respect, a great difference between the various 
districts. The turban is little used by these people, 
skull-caps being preferred, while their red cloth 
gun-cases are commonly twisted turban-wise as 
head-gear, though often a camel's-hair cord is deemed 
sufficient protection for the head. 



THE BERBER RACE 53 

Every successive ruler of North Africa has had 
to do with the problem of subduing the Berbers 
and has failed. In the wars between Rome and 
Carthage it was among her sturdy Berber soldiers 
that the southern rival of the great queen city of 
the world found actual sinews enough to hold the 
Roman legions so long at bay, and often to over- 
come her vaunted cohorts and carry the war across 
into Europe. Where else did Rome find so near 
a match, and what wars cost her more than did 
those of Africa ? Carthage indeed has fallen, and 
from her once famed Byrsa the writer has been 
able to count on his fingers the local remains of her 
greatness, yet the people who made her what she 
was remain — the Berbers of Tunisia. The Phoe- 
nician settlers, though bringing with them wealth 
and learning and arts, could never have done alone 
what they did without the hardy fighting men 
supplied by the hills around. 

When Rome herself had fallen, and the fames 
of Carthage and Utica were forgotten, there came 
across North Africa a very different race from those 
who had preceded them, the desert Arabs, intro- 
ducing the creed of Islam. In the course of a 
century or two, North Africa became Mohammedan, 
pagan and Christian institutions being swept away 
before that onward wave. It is not probable that 
at any time Christianity had any real hold upon 
the Berbers themselves, and Isldm itself sits lightly 
on their easy consciences. 

The Arabs had for the moment solved the 
Berber problem. They were the amalgam which, 
by coalescing with the scattered factions of their 
race, had bound them up together and had formed 



54 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

for once a nation of them. Thus it was that the 
MusHm armies obtained force to carry all before 
them, and thus was provided the new blood and the 
active temper to which alone are due the conquest 
of Spain, and subsequent achievements there. The 
popular description of the Mohammedan rulers of 
Spain as "Saracens" — Easterners — is as erroneous 
as the supposition that they were Arabs. The 
people who conquered Spain were Berbers, although 
their leaders often adopted Arabic names with an 
Arab religion and Arab culture. The Arabic 
language, although official, was by no means 
general, nor is it otherwise to-day. The men who 
fought and the men who ruled were Berbers out 
and out, though the latter were often the sons of 
Arab fathers or mothers, and the great religious 
chiefs were purely Arab on the father's side at 
least, the majority claiming descent from Mohammed 
himself, and as such forming a class apart of shareefs 
or nobles. 

Though nominal Mohammedans, and in Morocco 
acknowledging the religious supremacy of the reign- 
ing shareefian family, the Moorish Berbers still 
retain a semi-independence. The mountains of the 
Atlas chain have always been their home and refuge, 
where the plainsmen find it difficult and dangerous 
to follow them. The history of the conquest of 
Algeria and Tunisia by the French has shown 
that they are no mean opponents even to modern 
weapons and modern warfare. The Kabyles,* 
as they are erroneously styled in those countries, 

* I.e. " Provincials," so misnamed from Kabilah {j)l. Kabail), a 
province. 



THE BERBER RACE ss 

have still to be kept in check by the fear of 
arms, and their prowess no one disputes. These 
are the people the French propose to subdue by 
"pacific penetration." The awe with which these 
mountaineers have inspired the plainsmen and 
townsfolk is remarkable ; as good an illustration of 
it as I know was the effect produced on a Moor by 
my explanation that a Highland friend to whom I 
had introduced him was not an Englishman, but 
what I might call a " British Berber." The man 
was absolutely awe-struck. 

Separated from the Arab as well as from the 
European by a totally distinct, unwritten language, 
with numerous dialects, these people still exist as a 
mine of raw material, full of possibilities. In habits 
and style of life they may be considered uncivilized 
even in contrast to the mingled dwellers on the 
lowlands ; but they are far from being savages. 
Their stalwart frames and sturdy independence fit 
them for anything, although the latter quality keeps 
them aloof, and has so far prevented intercourse 
with the outside world. 

Many have their own pet theories as to the 
origin of the Berbers and their language, not a 
few believing them to have once been altogether 
Christians, while others, following native authors, 
attribute to them Canaanitish ancestors, and eth- 
nologists dispute as to the branch of Noah's family 
in which to class them. It is more than probable 
that they are one with the ancient Egyptians, who, 
at least, were no barbarians, if Berbers. But all 
are agreed that some of the finest stocks of southern 
and western Europe are of kindred origin, if not 



56 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

identical with them, and even if this be uncertain, 
enough has been said to show that they have 
played no unimportant part in European history, 
though it has ever been their lot to play behind the 
scenes — -scene-shifters rather than actors. 



V 
THE WANDERING ARAB 

" I am loving, not lustful." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Some strange fascination attaches itself to the simple 
nomad life of the Arab, in whatever country he be 
found, and here, in the far west of his peregrina- 
tions, he is encountered living almost in the same 
style as on the other side of Suez ; his only roof 
a cloth, his country the wide world. Sometimes the 
tents are arranged as many as thirty or more in a 
circle, and at other times they are grouped hap- 
hazard, intermingled with round huts of thatch, and 
oblong ones of sun-dried bricks, thatched also ; but 
in the latter cases the occupants are unlikely to 
be pure Arabs, for that race seldom so nearly ap- 
proaches to settling anywhere. When the tents 
are arranged in a circle, the animals are generally 
picketed in the centre, but more often some are to 
be found sharing the homes of their owners. 

The tent itself is of an oval shape, with a wooden 
ridge on two poles across the middle third of the 
centre, from front to back, with a couple of strong 
bands of the same material as the tent fixed on 
either side, whence cords lead to pegs in the 
ground, passing over two low stakes leaning out- 
wards. A rude camel's hair canvas is stretched 

57 



58 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

over this frame, being kept up at the edges by more 
leaning stakes, and fastened by cords to pegs all 
round. The door space is left on the side which 
faces the centre of the encampment, and the walls 
or " curtains " are formed of high thistles lashed 
together in sheaves. Surrounding the tent is a 
yard, a simple bog in winter, the boundary of which 
is a ring formed by bundles of prickly branches, 
which compose a really formidable barrier, being 
too much for a jump, and too tenacious to one 
another and to visitors for penetration. The break 
left for an entrance is stopped at night by another 
bundle which makes the circle complete. 

The interior of the tent is often more or less 
divided by the pole supporting the roof, and by a 
pile of household goods, such as they are. Some- 
times a rude loom is fastened to the poles, and at 
it a woman sits working on the floor. The frame- 
work — made of canes — is kept in place by rigging 
to pegs in the ground. The woman's hand is her 
only shuttle, and she threads the wool through with 
her fingers, a span at a time, afterwards knocking 
it down tightly into place with a heavy wrought- 
iron comb about two inches wide, with a dozen 
prongs. She seems but half-dressed, and makes no 
effort to conceal either face or breast, as a filthy 
child lies feeding in her lap. Her seat is a piece of 
matting, but the principal covering for the floor of 
trodden mud is a layer of palmetto leaves. Round 
the "walls" are several hens with chicks nestling 
under their wings, and on one side a donkey is 
tethered, while a calf sports at large. 

The furniture of this humble dwelling consists 
of two or three large, upright, mud-plastered, 



THE WANDERING ARAB 59 

split-cane baskets, containing corn, partially sunk in 
the ground, and a few dirty bags. On one side is the 
mill, a couple of stones about eighteen inches across, 
the upper one convex, with a handle at one side. 
Three stones above a small hole in the orround serve 
as a cooking-range, while the fuel is abundant in 
the form of sun-dried thistles and other weeds, or 
palmetto leaves and sticks. Fire is obtained by 
borrowing from one another, but should it happen 
that no one in the encampment had any, the 
laborious operation of lighting dry straw from the 
flash in the pan of a flint-lock would have to be 
performed. To light the rude lamp — merely a bit 
of cotton protruding from anything with olive-oil 
in it — it is necessary to blow some smoking straw 
or weed till it bursts into a flame. 

Little else except the omnipresent dirt is to be 
found in the average Arab tent. A tin or two for 
cooking operations, a large earthen water-jar, and a 
pan or two to match, in which the butter-milk is kept, 
a sieve for the flour, and a few rough baskets, usually 
complete the list, and all are remarkable only for 
the prevailing grime. Making a virtue of necessity, 
the Arab prefers sour milk to fresh, for with this 
almost total lack of cleanliness, no milk would long 
keep sweet. Their food is of the simplest, chiefly 
the flour of wheat, barley, or Indian millet prepared 
in various ways, for the most part made up into flat, 
heavy cakes of bread, or as kesk'soo. Milk, from 
which butter is made direct by tossing it in a goat- 
skin turned inside out, eggs and fowls form the chief 
animal food, butcher's meat being but seldom in- 
dulged in. Vegetables do not enter into their diet, 
as they have no gardens, and beyond possessing 



6o LIFE IN MOROCCO 

flocks and herds, those Arabs met with in Barbary 
are wretchedly poor and miserably squalid. The 
patriarchal display of Arabia is here unknown. 

Of children and dogs there is no lack. Both 
abound, and wallow in the mud together. Often 
the latter seem to have the better time of it. Two 
families by one father will sometimes share one tent 
between them, but generally each " household " is 
distinct, though all sleep together in the one apart- 
ment of their abode. As one approaches a dtaar, 
or encampment, an early warning is given by 
the hungry dogs, and soon the half-clad children 
rush out to see who comes, followed leisurely by 
their elders. Hospitality has ever been an Arab 
trait, and these poor creatures, in their humble way, 
sustain the best traditions of their race. A native 
visitor of their own class is entertained and fed 
by the first he comes across, while the foreign 
traveller or native of means with his own tent is 
accommodated on the rubbish in the midst of the 
encampment, and can purchase all he wishes — all 
that they have — for a trifle, though sometimes they 
turn disagreeable and "pile it on." A present of 
milk and eggs, perhaps fowls, may be brought, for 
which, however, a quid pro quo is expected. 

Luxuries they have not. Whatever they need 
to do in the way of shopping, is done at the nearest 
market once a week, and nothing but the produce 
already mentioned is to be obtained from them. In 
the evenings they stuff themselves to repletion, if 
they can afford it, with a wholesome dish of pre- 
pared barley or wheat meal, sometimes crowned 
with beans ; then, after a gossip round the crackling 
fire, or, on state occasions, three cups of syrupy 



THE WANDERING ARAB 6i 

green tea apiece, they roll themselves in their long 
blankets and sleep on the ground. 

The first blush of dawn sees them stirring, and 
soon all is life and excitement. The men go off to 
their various labours, as do many of the stronger 
women, while the remainder attend to their scanty 
household duties, later on basking in the sun. But 
the moment the stranger arrives the scene changes, 
and the incessant din of dogs, hags and babies com- 
mences, to which the visitor is doomed till late at 
night, with the addition then of neighs and brays 
and occasional cock- crowing. 

It never seemed to me that these poor folk 
enjoyed lifq, but rather that they took things sadly. 
How could it be otherwise ? No security of life 
and property tempts them to make a show of 
wealth ; on the contrary, they bury what little they 
may save, if any, and lead lives of misery for fear 
of tempting the authorities. Their work is hard ; 
their comforts are few. The wild wind howls 
through their humble dwellings, and the rain 
splashes in at the door. In sickness, for lack of 
medical skill, they lie and perish. In health their 
only pleasures are animal. Their women, once 
they are past the prime of life, which means soon 
after thirty with this desert race, go unveiled, and 
work often harder than the men, carrying burdens, 
binding sheaves, or even perhaps helping a donkey 
to haul a plough. Female features are never so 
jealously guarded here as in the towns. 

Yet they are a jolly, good-tempered, simple folk. 
Often have I spent a merry evening round the fire 
with them, squatted on a bit of matting, telling of 
the wonders of ** That Country," the name which 



62 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

alternates in their vocabulary with " Nazarene 
Land," as descriptive of all the world but Morocco 
and such portions of North Africa or Arabia as 
they may have heard of. Many an honest laugh 
have we enjoyed over their wordy tales, or per- 
chance some witty sally ; but in my heart I have 
pitied these down-trodden people in their ignorance 
and want. Home they do not know. When the 
pasture in Shechem is short, they remove to 
Dothan ; next month they may be somewhere 
else. But they are always ready to share their 
scanty portion with the wayfarer, wherever they 
are. 

When the time comes for changing quarters 
these wanderers find the move but little trouble. 
Their few belongings are soon collected and packed, 
and the tent itself made ready for transportation. 
Their animals are got together, and ere long the 
cavalcade is on the road. Often one poor beast 
will carry a fair proportion of the family — the 
mother and a child or two, for instance — in addition 
to a load of household goods, and bundles of fowls 
slung by their feet. At the side men and boys 
drive the flocks and herds, while as often as not 
the elder women-folk take a full share in the porter- 
age of their property. To meet such a caravan is 
to feel one's self transported to Bible times, and to 
fancy Jacob going home from Padan Aram. 



VI 
CITY LIFE 

" Seek the neighbour before the house, 
And the companion before the road." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Few countries afford a better insight into typical 
Mohammedan life, or boast a more primitive civili- 
zation, than Morocco, preserved as it has been so 
long from western contamination. The patriarchal 
system, rendered more or less familiar to us by our 
Bibles, still exists in the homes of its people, espe- 
cially those of the country-side ; but Moorish city 
life is no less interesting or instructive. If an 
Englishman's house is his castle, the Moham- 
medan's house is a prison — not for himself, but 
for his women. Here is the radical difference 
between their life and ours. No one who has 
not mixed intimately with the people as one of 
themselves, lodging in their houses and holding 
constant intercourse with them, can form an ade- 
quate idea of the lack of home feeling, even in the 
happiest families. 

The moment you enter a town, however, the 
main facts are brought vividly before you on every 
hand. You pass along a narrow thoroughfare — 
maybe six, maybe sixteen feet in width — bounded 
by almost blank walls, in some towns whitewashed, 

63 



64 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

in others bare mud, in which are no windows, 
lest their inmates might see or be seen. Even 
above the roofs of the majority of two-storied houses 
(for very many in the East consist but of ground 
floor), the wall is continued to form a parapet round 
the terrace. If you meet a woman in the street, 
she is enveloped from head to ankle in close dis- 
guise, with only a peep-hole for one or both eyes, 
unless too ugly and withered for such precautions 
to be needful. 

You arrive at the door of your friend's abode, 
a huge massive barrier painted brown or green — if 
not left entirely uncoloured — and studded all over 
with nails. A very prison entrance it appears, 
for the only other breaks in the wall above are 
slits for ventilation, all placed so high in the room 
as to be out of reach. In the warmer parts of the 
country you would see latticed boxes protruding 
from the walls — meshrabiyahs or drinking-places — 
shelves on which porous earthen jars may be 
placed to catch the slightest breeze, that the God- 
sent beverage to which Mohammedans are wisely 
restricted may be at all times cool. You are terri- 
fied, if a stranger, by the resonance of this great 
door, as you let the huge iron ring which serves 
as knocker fall on the miniature anvil beneath it. 
Presently your scattered thoughts are recalled by 
a chirping voice from within — 

"Who's that?" 

You recognize the tones as those of a tiny 
negress slave, mayhap a dozen years of age, and 
as you give your name you hear a patter of bare 
feet on the tiles within, but if you are a male, 
you are left standing out in the street. In a few 



CITY LIFE 6s 

moments the latch of the inner door is sedately- 
lifted, and with measured tread you hear the 
slippers of your friend advancing. 

" Is that So-and-so ? " he asks, pausing on the 
other side of the door. 

*' It is, my Lord." 

" Welcome, then." 

The heavy bolt is drawn, and the door swings 
on its hinges during a volley and counter-volley 
of inquiries, congratulations, and thanks to God, 
accompanied by the most graceful bows, the mutual 
touching and kissing of finger-tips, and the placing 
of hands on hearts. As these exercises slacken, 
your host advances to the inner door, and possibly 
disappears through it, closing it carefully behind 
him. You hear his stentorian voice commanding, 
'' Amel trek!'' — ** Make way!"— and this is fol- 
lowed by a scuffle of feet which tells you he is 
being obeyed. Not a female form will be in sight 
by the time your host returns to lead you in by 
the hand with a thousand welcomes, entreating you 
to make yourself at home. 

The passage is constructed with a double turn, 
so that you could not look, if you would, from the 
roadway into the courtyard which you now enter. 
If one of the better-class houses, the floor will be 
paved with marble or glazed mosaics, and in the 
centre will stand a bubblinor fountain. Round the 
sides is a colonnade supporting the first-floor land- 
ing, reached by a narrow stairway in the corner. 
Above is the deep-blue sky, obscured, perhaps, by 
the grateful shade of fig or orange boughs, or a 
vine on a trellis, under which the people live. The 
walls, if not tiled, are whitewashed, and often 

F 



66 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

beautifully decorated in plaster mauresques. In 
the centre of three of the four sides are huge horse- 
shoe-arched doorways, two of which will probably 
be closed by cotton curtains. These suffice to 
ensure the strictest privacy within, as no one would 
dream of approaching within a couple of yards of a 
room with the curtain down, till leave had been 
asked and obtained. 

You are led into the remaining room, the guest- 
chamber, and the curtain over the entrance is low- 
ered. You may not now venture to rise from your 
seat on the mattress facing the door till the women 
whom you hear emerging from their retreats have 
been admonished to withdraw again. The long, 
narrow apartment, some eight feet by twenty, in 
which you find yourself has a double bed at each 
end, for it is sleeping-room and sitting-room com- 
bined, as in Barbary no distinction is known between 
the two. However long you may remain, you see no 
female face but that of the cheery slave-girl, who 
kisses your hand so demurely as she enters with 
refreshments. 

Thus the husband receives his friends — per- 
force all males unless he be ** on the spree," — in 
apartments from which all women-folk are banished. 
Likewise the ladies of the establishment hold their 
festive gatherings apart. Most Moors, however, 
are too strict to allow much visiting among their 
women, especially if they be wealthy and have a 
good complexion, when they are very closely con- 
fined, except when allowed to visit the bath at 
certain hours set apart for the fair sex, or on 
Fridays to lay myrtle branches on the tombs of 
saints and departed relatives. Most of the ladies' 



CITY LIFE 67 

calls are roof-to-roof visitations, and very nimble 
they are in getting over the low partition walls, 
even dragging a ladder up and down with them if 
there are high ones to be crossed. The reason is 
that the roofs, or rather terraces, are especially 
reserved for women-folk, and men are not even 
allowed to go up except to do repairs, when the 
neighbouring houses are duly warned ; it is illegal 
to have a window overlooking another's roof. 
David's temptation doubtless arose from his exer- 
cise of a Royal exemption from this all-prevailing 
custom. 

But for their exceedingly substantial build, the 
Moorish women in the streets might pass for ghosts, 
for with the exception of their red Morocco slippers, 
their costume is white — wool-white. A long and 
heavy blanket of coarse homespun effectually con- 
ceals all features but the eyes, which are touched 
up with antimony on the lids, and are sufficiently 
expressive. Sometimes a wide-brimmed straw hat 
is jauntily clapped on ; but here ends the plate of 
Moorish out-door fashions. In-doors all is colour, 
light and glitter. 

In matters of colour and flowing robes the men 
are not far behind, and they make up abroad for 
what they lack at home. No garment is more 
artistic, and no drapery more graceful, than that in 
which the wealthy Moor takes his daily airing, 
either on foot or on mule-back. Beneath a gauze- 
like woollen toga — relic of ancient art — glimpses of 
luscious hue are caught — crimson and purple ; deep 
greens and " afternoon-sun-colour " (the native name 
for a rich orange) ; salmons, and pale, clear blues. A 
dark-blue cloak, when it is cold, negligently but 



68 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

gracefully thrown across the shoulders, or a blue- 
green prayer-carpet folded beneath the arm, helps 
to set off the whole. 

Chez hii our friend of the flowing garments is 
a king, with slaves to wait upon him, wives to obey 
him, and servants to fear his wrath. But his every- 
day reception-room is the lobby of his stables, 
where he sits behind the door in rather shabby 
garments attending to business matters, unless he is 
a merchant or shopkeeper, when his store serves 
as office instead. 

If all that the Teuton considers essential to 
home-life is really a sine qud non, then Orientals 
have no home-life. That is our way of looking 
upon it, judging in the most natural way, by our 
own standards. The Eastern, from his point of 
view, forms an equally poor idea of the customs 
which familiarity has rendered most dear to us. It 
is as difficult for us to set aside prejudice and to con- 
sider his systems impartially, as for him to do so 
with regard to our peculiar style. There are but 
two criteria by which the various forms of civiliza- 
tion so far developed by man may be fairly judged. 
The first is the suitability of any given form to the 
surroundings and exterior conditions of life of the 
nation adopting it, and the second is the moral or 
social effect on the community at large. 

Under the first head the unbiassed student of 
mankind will approve in the main of most systems 
adopted by peoples who have attained that arti- 
ficiality which we call civilization. An exchange 
amone Westerners of their time-honoured habits 
for those of the East would not be less beneficial or 
more incongruous than a corresponding exchange 



CITY LIFE 69 

on the part of orientals. Those who are ignorant 
of life towards the sunrise commonly suppose that 
they can confer no greater benefit upon the natives of 
these climes than chairs, top-hats, and so on. Hardly 
could they be more mistaken. The Easterner de- 
spises the man who cannot eat his dinner without 
a fork or other implement, and who cannot tuck his 
legs beneath him, infinitely more than ill-informed 
Westerners despise petticoated men and shrouded 
women. Under the second head, however, a very 
different issue is reached, and one which involves 
not only social, but religious life, and consequently 
the creed on which this last is based. It is in this 
that Moorish civilization fails. 

* * * 

But list! what is that weird, low sound which 
strikes upon our ear and interrupts our musings? 
It is the call to prayer. For the fifth time to-day 
that cry is sounding — a warning to the faithful that 
the hour for evening devotions has come. See ! 
yonder Moor has heard it too, and is already 
spreading his felt on the ground for the per- 
formance of his nightly orisons. Standing Mekka- 
wards, and bowing to the ground, he goes through 
the set forms used throughout the Mohammedan 
world. The majority satisfy their consciences by 
working off the whole five sets at once. But that 
cry ! I hear it still ; as one voice fails another 
carries on the strain in ever varying cadence, each 
repeating it to the four quarters of the heavens. 

It was yet early in the morning when the first 
call of the day burst on the stilly air ; the sun had 
not then risen o'er the hill-tops, nor had his first, 
soft rays dispelled the shadows of the night. Only 



70 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

the rustling of the wind was heard as it died among 
the tree-tops — that wind which was a gale last 
night. The hurried tread of the night-guard going 
on his last — perhaps his only — round before re- 
turning home, had awakened me from dreaming 
slumbers, and I was about to doze away into that 
sweetest of sleeps, the morning nap, when the 
distant cry broke forth. Pitched in a high, clear 
key, the Muslim confession of faith was heard ; 
" La ilaha il' Al-lah ; wa Mohammed er-rasool 
Al-l-a-h ! " Could ever bell send thrill like that ? 
I wot not. 



VII 
THE WOMEN-FOLK 

" Teach not thy daughter letters ; let her not live on the roof." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Of no country In the world can it more truly be 
said than of the Moorish Empire that the social 
condition of the people may be measured by that 
of its women. Holding its women in absolute 
subjection, the Moorish nation is itself held in sub- 
jection, morally, politically, socially. The proverb 
heading this chapter, implying that women should 
not enjoy the least education or liberty, expresses 
the universal treatment of the weaker sex among 
Mohammedans. It is the subservient position of 
women which strikes the visitor from Europe more 
than all the oriental strangeness of the local customs 
or the local art and colour. Advocates of the 
restriction of the rights of women in our own land, 
and of the retention of disabilities unknown to 
men, who fail to recognize the justice and invaria- 
bility of the principle of absolute equality in rights 
and liberty between the sexes, should investigate 
the state of things existing in Morocco, where the 
natural results of a fallacious principle have had free 
course. 

No welcome awaits the infant daughter, and few 
care to bear the evil news to the father, who will 

71 



72 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

sometimes be left uninformed as to the sex of his 
child till the time comes to name her. It is rarely 
that girls are taught to read, or even to understand 
the rudiments of their religious system. Here and 
there a father who ranks in Morocco as scholarly, 
takes the trouble to teach his children at home, 
including his daughters in the class, but this is very 
seldom the case. Only those women succeed in 
obtaining even an average education In whom a 
thirst for knowledge is combined with opportunities 
in every way exceptional. In the country con- 
siderably more liberty is permitted than in the 
towns, and the condition of the Berber women has 
already been noted. 

Nevertheless, in certain circumstances, women 
attain a power quite abnormal under such con- 
ditions, usually the result of natural astuteness, 
combined — at the outset, at least — with a reasonable 
share of good looks, for when a woman is fairly 
astute she is a match for a man anywhere. A 
Mohammedan woman's place in life depends en- 
tirely on her personal attractions. If she lacks 
good looks, or is thin — which in Barbary, as in 
other Muslim countries, amounts to much the same 
thing — her future is practically hopeless. The 
chances being less — almost nil — of getting her 
easily off their hands by marriage, the parents feel 
they must make the best they can of her by setting 
her to work about the house, and she becomes a 
general drudge- If the home is a wealthy one, she 
may be relieved from this lot, and steadily ply her 
needle at minutely fine silk embroidery, or deck and 
paint herself in style, but, despised by her more 
fortunate sisters, she is even then hardly better off. 



THE WOMEN-FOLK 73 

If, on the other hand, a daughter is the beauty 
of the family, every one pays court to her in some 
degree, for there is no telHng to what she may 
arrive. Perhaps, in Morocco, she is even thought 
good enough for the Sultan — plump, clear-skinned, 
bright-eyed. Could she but get a place in the Royal 
hareem, it would be in the hands of God to make her 
the mother of the coming sultan. But good looks 
alone will not suffice to take her there. Influence 
— a word translatable in the Orient by a shorter 
one, cash — must be brought to bear. The interest 
of a wazeer or two must be secured, and finally an 
interview must take place with one of the "wise 
women" who are in charge of the Imperial ladies. 
She, too, must be convinced by the eloquence of 
dollars, that His Majesty could not find another so 
graceful a creature in all his dominions. 

When permission is given to send her to Court, 
what joy there is, what bedecking, what congratula- 
tion ! At last she is taken away with a palpitating 
heart, as she thinks of the possibilities before her, 
bundled up in her blanket and mounted on an 
ambling mule under strictest guard. On arrival 
at her new home her very beauty will make 
enemies, especially among those who have been 
there longest, and who feel their chances grow 
less as each new-comer appears. Perhaps one 
Friday the Sultan notices her as he walks in his 
grounds in the afternoon, and taking a fancy to 
her, decides to make her his wife. At once all 
jealousies are hidden, and each vies with the other 
to render her service, and assist the preparations 
for the coming event. For a while she will re- 
main supreme — a very queen indeed — but only till 



74 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

her place is taken by another. If she has sons her 
chances are better ; but unless she maintains her 
influence over her husband till her offspring are old 
enough to find a lasting place in his affections, she 
will probably one day be despatched to Tafildlt, 
beyond the Atlas by the Sdharah, whence come 
those luscious dates. There every other man is a 
direct descendant of some Moorish king, as for 
centuries it has served as a sort of overflow for the 
prolific Royal house. 

As Islam knows no right of primogeniture, each 
sultan appoints his heir ; so each wife strives to 
obtain this favour for her son, and often enough 
the story of Ishmael and Isaac repeats itself among 
these reputed descendants of Hagar. The usual 
way is for the pet son to be placed in some com- 
mand, even before really able to discharge the 
duties of the post, which shall secure him supreme 
control on his father's death. The treasury and the 
army are the two great means to this end. Those 
possible rivals who have not been sent away to 
Tafildlt are as often as not imprisoned or put 
to death on some slight charge, as used to be the 
custom in England a few hundred years ago. 

This method of bequeathing rights which do 
not come under the strict scale for the division of 
property contained in the Koran is not confined 
to Royalty. It applies also to religious sanctity. 
An instance is that of the late Shareef, or Noble, 
of Wazzan, a feudal "saint" of great influence. 
His father, on his deathbed, appointed as successor 
to his title, his holiness, and the estates connected 
therewith, the son who should be found playing with 
a certain stick, a common toy of his favourite. But 



THE WOMEN-FOLK 75 

a black woman by whom he had a son was present, 
and ran out to place the stick in the hands of her 
own child, who thus inherited his father's honours. 
Some of the queens of Morocco have arrived at such 
power through their influence over their husbands 
that they have virtually ruled the Empire. 

Supposing, however, that the damsel who has at 
last found admittance to the hareem does not, after 
all, prove attractive to her lord, she will in all 
probability be sent away to make room for some 
one else. She will be bestowed upon some country 
governor when he comes to Court. Sometimes 
it is an especially astute one who is thus trans- 
ferred, that she may thereafter serve as a spy on 
his actions. 

Though those before whom lies such a career as 
has been described will be comparatively few, none 
who can be considered beautiful are without their 
chances, however poor. Many well-to-do men prefer 
a poor wife to a rich one, because they can divorce 
her when tired of her without incurring the enmity 
of powerful relatives. Marriage is enjoined upon 
every Muslim as a religious duty, and, if able to 
afford it, he usually takes to himself his first wife 
before he is out of his teens. He is relieved of the 
choice of a partner which troubles some of us so 
much, for the ladies of his family undertake this for 
him : if they do not happen to know of a likely 
individual they employ a professional go-between, a 
woman who follows also the callings of pedlar and 
scandal-monger. It is the duty of this personage, 
on receipt of a present from his friends, to sing his 
praises and those of his family in the house of some 
beautiful girl, whose friends are thereby induced 



76 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

to give her a present to go and do likewise on 
their behalf in the house of so promising a youth. 
Personal negotiations will then probably take place 
between the lady friends, and all things proving 
satisfactory, the fathers or brothers of the might-be 
pair discuss the dowry and marriage-settlement 
from a strictly business point of view. 

At this stage the bride-elect will perhaps be 
thought not fat enough, and will have to submit to 
a course of stuffing. This consists in swallowing after 
each full meal a few small sausage-shaped boluses 
of flour, honey and butter, flavoured with anise- 
seed or something similar. A few months of this 
treatment give a marvellous rotundity to the figure, 
thus greatly increasing her charms in the native eye. 
But of these the bridegroom will see nothing, if not 
surreptitiously, till after the wedding, when she is 
brought to his house. 

By that time formal documents of marriage will 
have been drawn up, and signed by notaries before 
the kadi or judge, setting forth the contract — with 
nothing in it about love or honour, — detailing every 
article which the wife brings with her, including in 
many instances a considerable portion of the house- 
hold utensils. Notwithstanding all this, she may be 
divorced by her husband simply saying, " I divorce 
thee ! " and though she may claim the return of all 
she brought, she has no option but to go home 
again. He may repent and take her back a first 
and a second time, but after he has put her away 
three times he may not marry her again till after 
she has been wedded to some one else and divorced. 
Theoretically she may get a divorce from him, but 
practically this is a matter of great difficulty. 



THE WOMEN-FOLK 77 

The legal expression employed for the nuptial 
tie is one which conveys the idea of purchasing a 
field, to be put to what use the owner will, according 
him complete control. This idea is borne out to the 
full, and henceforward the woman lives for her lord, 
with no thought of independence or self-assertion. 
If he is poor, all work too hard for him that is not 
considered unwomanly falls to her share, hewing of 
wood and drawing of water, grinding of corn and 
making of bread, weaving and washing; but, strange 
to us, little sewing. When decidedly pass^ee, she 
saves him a donkey in carrying wood and charcoal 
and grass to market, often bent nearly double under 
a load which she cannot lift, which has to be bound 
on her back. Her feet are bare, but her sturdy 
legs are at times encased in leather to ward off the 
wayside thorns. No longer jealously covered, she 
and her unmarried daughters trudge for many weary 
miles at dawn, her decidedly better-off half and a son 
or two riding the family mule. From this it is but 
a short step to helping the cow or donkey draw the 
plough, and this step is sometimes taken. 

Until a woman's good looks have quite dis- 
appeared, which generally occurs about the time 
they become grandmothers — say thirty, — intercourse 
of any sort with men other than her relatives of the 
first degree is strictly prohibited, and no one dare 
salute a woman in the street, even if her attendant 
or mount shows her to be a privileged relative. 
The slightest recognition of a man out-of-doors — 
or indeed anywhere — would be to proclaim herself 
one of that degraded outcaste class as common in 
Moorish towns as in Europe. 

Of companionship in wedlock the Moor has no 



78 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

conception, and his ideas of love are those of lust. 
Though matrimony is considered by the Muslim 
doctors as " half of Islam," its value in their eyes is 
purely as a legalization of license by the substitution 
of polygamy for polyandry. Slavishly bound to the 
observance of wearisome customs, immured in a 
windowless house with only the roof for a prome- 
nade, seldom permitted outside the door, and then 
most carefully wrapped in a blanket till quite un- 
recognizable, the life of a Moorish woman, from the 
time she has first been caught admiring herself in a 
mirror, is that of a bird encaged. Lest she might 
grow content with such a lot, she has before her 
eyes from infancy the jealousies and rivalries of her 
father's wives and concubines, and is early initiated 
into the disgusting and unutterable practices em- 
ployed to gain the favour of their lord. Her one 
thought from childhood is man, and distance lends 
enchantment. A word, the interchange of a look, 
with a man is sought for by the Moorish maiden 
more than are the sighs and glances of a coy brunette 
by a Spaniard. Nothing short of the unexpurgated 
Arabian Nights' Entertainments can convey an ade- 
quate idea of what goes on within those whited 
sepulchres, the broad, blank walls of Moorish towns. 
A word with the mason who comes to repair the 
roof, or even a peep at the men at work on the 
building over the way, on whose account the roof 
promenade is forbidden, is eagerly related and ex- 
patiated on. In short, all the training a Moorish 
woman receives is sensual, a training which of itself 
necessitates most rigorous, though often unavailing, 
seclusion. 

Both in town and country intrigues are common. 



THE WOMEN-FOLK 79 

but Intrigues which have not even the excuse of the 
bHndness of love, whose only motive is animal 
passion. The husband who, on returning home, 
finds a pair of red slippers before the door of his 
wife's apartment, is bound to understand thereby 
that somebody else's wife or daughter is within, and 
he dare not approach. If he has suspicions, all he 
can do is to bide his time and follow the visitor 
home, should the route lie through the streets, or 
despatch a faithful slave-girl or jealous concubine 
on a like errand, should the way selected be over 
the roof-tops. In the country, under a very different 
set of conventionalities, much the same takes place. 

In a land where woman holds the degraded 
position which she does under Islam, such family 
circles as the Briton loves can never exist. The 
foundation of the home system is love, which 
seldom links the members of these families, most 
seldom of all man and wife. Anything else is not 
to be expected when they meet for the first time 
on their wedding night. To begin with, no one's 
pleasure is studied save that of the despotic master 
of the house. All the inmates, from the poor im- 
prisoned wives down to the lively slave-girl who 
opens the door, all are there to serve his pleasure, 
and woe betide those who fail. 

The first wife may have a fairly happy time of It 
for a season, if her looks are good, and her ways 
pleasing, but when a second usurps her place, she 
is generally cast aside as a useless piece of furni- 
ture, unless set to do servile work. Although four 
legal wives are allowed by the Koran, it is only 
among the rich that so many are found, on account 
of the expense of their maintenance in appropriate 



8o LIFE IN MOROCCO 

style. The facility of divorce renders it much 
cheaper to change from time to time, and slaves 
are more economical. To the number of such 
women that a man may keep no limit is set ; he 
may have " as many as his right hand can possess." 
Then, too, these do the work of the house, and if 
they bear their master no children, they may be 
sold like any other chattels. 

The consequence of such a system is that she 
reigns who for the time stands highest in her lord's 
favour, so that the strife and jealousies which disturb 
the peace of the household are continual. This 
rivalry is naturally inherited by the children, who 
side with their several mothers, v/hich is especially 
the case with the boys. Very often the legal wife 
has no children, or only daughters, while quite a 
little troop of step-children play about her house. 
In these cases it is not uncommon for at least the 
best-looking of these youngsters to be taught to 
call her " mother," and their real parent " Dadda 
M'barkah," or whatever her name may be. The 
offspring of wives and bondwomen stand on an 
equal footing before the law, in which Isldm is still 
ahead of us. 

Such is the sad lot of women in Morocco. 
Religion itself being all but denied them in prac- 
tice, whatever precept provides, it is with blank 
astonishment that the majority of them hear the 
message of those noble foreign sisters of theirs who 
have devoted their lives to showing them a better 
way. The greatest difficulty is experienced in 
arousing in them any sense of individuality, any 
feeling of personal responsibility, or any aspiration 
after good. They are so accustomed to be treated 



THE WOMEN-FOLK 8i 

as cattle, that their higher powers are ahogether 
dormant, all possibilities of character repressed. 
The welfare of their souls is supposed to be assured 
by union with a Muslim, and few know even how 
to pray. Instead of religion, their minds are 
saturated with the grossest superstition. If this 
be the condition of the free woman, how much 
worse that of the slave ! 

The present socially degraded state in which 
the people live, and their apparent, though not real, 
incapacity for progress and development, is to a 
great extent the curse entailed by this brutalization 
of women. No race can ever rise above the level 
of its weaker sex, and till Morocco learns this lesson 
it will never rise. The boy may be the father of 
the man, but the woman is the mother of the boy, 
and so controls the destiny of the nation. Nothing 
can indeed be hoped for in this country in the 
way of social progress till the minds of the men 
have been raised, and their estimation of women 
entirely changed. Though Turkey was so long 
much in the position in which Morocco remains 
to-day, it is a noteworthy fact that as she steadily 
progresses in the way of civilization, one of the 
most apparent features of this progress is the 
growing respect for women, and the increasing 
liberty which is allowed them, both in public and 
private. 



VIII 
SOCIAL VISITS* 

" Every country its customs." 

Moorish Proverb. 

" Calling " is not the common, every-day event in 
Barbary which it has grown to be in European 
society. The narrowed-in Hfe of the Moorish woman 
of the higher classes, and the strict watch which is kept 
lest some other man than her husband should see 
her, makes a regular interchange of visits practically 
impossible. No doubt the Moorish woman would 
find them quite as great a burden as her western 
sister, and in this particular her ignorance may be 
greater bliss than her knowledge. In spite of the 
paucity of the " calls " she receives or pays, she is 
by no means ignorant of the life and character 
of her neighbours, thanks to certain old women 
(amongst them the professional match-makers) who 
go about as veritable gossip-mongers, and pre- 
serve their more cloistered sisters at least from 
dying of inanition. Thus the veriest trifles of 
house arrangement or management are thoroughly 
canvassed. 

Nor is it a privilege commonly extended to 
European women to be received into the hareems 
of the high-class and wealthy Moors, although 

* Contributed by my wife.— B.M. 
82 



SOCIAL VISITS 83 

lady missionaries have abundant opportunities for 
making the acquaintance of the women of the poorer 
classes, especially when medical knowledge and skill 
afford a key. But the wives of the rich are shut 
away to themselves, and if you are fortunate enough 
to be invited to call upon them, do not neglect your 
opportunity. 

You will find that the time named for calling is 
not limited to the afternoon. Thus it may be when 
the morning air is blowing fresh from the sea, and 
the sun is mounting in the heavens, that you are 
ushered, perhaps by the master of the house, through 
winding passages to the quarters of the women. 
If there is a garden, this is frequently reserved for 
their use, and jealously protected from view, and 
as in all cases they are supposed to have the 
monopoly of the fiat roof, the courteous male 
foreigner will keep his gaze from wandering thither 
too frequently, or resting there too long. 

Do not be surprised if you are ushered into an 
apparently empty room, furnished after the Moorish 
manner with a strip of richly coloured carpet down 
the centre, and mattresses round the edge. If there 
is a musical box in the room, it will doubtless be 
set going as a pleasant accompaniment to conversa- 
tion, and the same applies to striking or chiming 
clocks, for which the Moors have a strong predilec- 
tion as objets d'art, rather than to mark the march 
of time. 

Of course you will not have forgotten to remove 
your shoes at the door, and will be sitting cross- 
legged and quite at ease on one of the immaculate 
mattresses, when the ladies begin to arrive from 
their retreats. As they step forward to greet you, 



84 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

you may notice their henna-stained feet, a means 
of decoration which is repeated on their hands, 
where it is sometimes used in conjunction with 
harkos, a black pigment with which is appHed a 
dehcate tracery giving the effect of black silk 
mittens. The dark eyes are made to appear more 
lustrous and almond-shaped by the application of 
antimony, and the brows are extended till they 
meet in a black line above the nose. The hair is 
arranged under a head-dress frequently composed 
of two bright-coloured, short-fringed silk handker- 
chiefs, knotted together above the ears, sometimes 
with the addition of an artificial flower : heavy 
ear-rings are worn, and from some of them there 
are suspended large silver hands, charms against 
the " evil eye." But undoubtedly the main feature 
of the whole costume is the kaftdn or tunic of 
lustrous satin or silk, embroidered richly in gold 
and silver, of a colour showing to advantage beneath 
a white lace garment of similar shape. 

The women themselves realize that such fine 
feathers must be guarded from spot or stain, for 
they are in many cases family heir-looms, so after 
they have greeted you with a slight pressure of 
their finger-tips laid upon yours, and taken their 
seats, tailor-fashion, you will notice that each sedu- 
lously protects her knees with a rough Turkish 
towel, quite possibly the worse for wear. In spite 
of her love for personal decoration, evidenced by 
the strings of pearls with which her neck is entwined, 
and the heavy silver armlets, the well-bred Moorish 
woman evinces no more curiosity than her Euro- 
pean sister about the small adornments of her visitor, 
and this is the more remarkable when you remember 



SOCIAL VISITS 85 

how destitute of higher interests is her life. She 
will make kindly and very interested inquiries 
about your relatives, and even about your life, 
though naturally, in spite of your explanations, it 
remains a sealed book to her. The average 
Moorish woman, however, shows herself as inquisi- 
tive as the Chinese. 

It is quite possible that you may see some of 
the children, fascinating, dark-eyed, soft-skinned 
morsels of humanity, with henna-dyed hair, which 
may be plaited in a pig-tail, the length of which 
is augmented by a strange device of coloured wool 
with which the ends of the hair are interwoven. 
But children of the better class in Morocco are 
accustomed to keep in the background, and unless 
invited, do not venture farther than the door of the 
reception room, and then with a becoming modesty. 
If any of the slave-wives enter, you will have an 
opportunity of noticing their somewhat quaint greet- 
ing of those whom they desire to honour, a kiss 
bestowed on each hand, which they raise to meet 
their lips, and upon each shoulder, before they, 
too, take their seats upon the mattresses. 

Probably you will not have long to wait before 
a slave-girl enters with the preparations for tea, 
orange-flower water, incense, a well-filled tray, a 
samovar, and two or three dishes piled high with 
cakes. If you are wise, you will most assuredly 
try the "gazelle's hoofs," so-called from their shape, 
for they are a most delicious compound of almond 
paste, with a spiciness so skilfully blended as to be 
almost elusive. If you have a sweet tooth, the 
honey cakes will be eminently satisfactory, but if 
your taste is plainer, you will enjoy the f'kakis, 



86 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

or dry biscuit. Three cups of their most fragrant 
tea is the orthodox allowance, but a Moorish host 
or hostess is not slow to perceive any disinclination, 
however slight, and will sometimes of his or her 
own accord pave your way to a courteous refusal, 
by appearing not over anxious either for the last 
cup. 

If you have already had an experience of dining 
in Morocco, the whole process of the tea-making 
will be familiar ; if not, you will be interested to 
notice how the tea ("gunpowder") is measured in 
the hand, then emptied into the pot, washed, 
thoroughly sweetened, made with boiling water from 
the samovar, and flavoured with mint or verbena. 
If the master of the house is present, he is apt to 
keep the tea-making in his own hands, although he 
may delegate it to one of his wives, who thus becomes 
the hostess of the occasion. 

After general inquiries as to the purpose of your 
visit to Morocco, you may be asked if you are a 
tabeebah or lady doctor, the one profession which 
they know, by hearsay at least, is open to women. 
If you can claim ever so little knowledge, you will 
probably be asked for a prescription to promote an 
increase of adipose tissue, which they consider their 
greatest charm ; perhaps a still harder riddle may 
be propounded, with the hope that its satisfactory 
solution may secure to them the wavering affection 
of their lord, and prevent alienation and, perhaps, 
divorce. Yet all you can say is, " In sha Allah " 
(If God will !) 

When you bid them farewell it will be with a 
keen realization of their narrow, cramped lives, and 
an appreciation of your own opportunities. Did 



SOCIAL VISITS 87 

you but know it, they too are full of sympathy 
for that poor, over-strained Nazarene woman, 
who is obliged to leave the shelter of her four 
walls, and face the world unveiled, unprotected, 
unabashed. 

And thus our proverb is proved true. 



ilX 
A COUNTRY WEDDING 

" Silence is at the door of consent." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Thursday was chosen as auspicious for the wedding, 
but the ceremonies commenced on the Sunday 
before. The first item on an extensive programme 
was the visit of the bride with her immediate 
female relatives and friends to the steam bath at 
the kasbah, a rarity in country villages, in this 
case used only by special favour. At the close 
of an afternoon of fun and frolic in the bath-house, 
Z6harah, the bride, was escorted to her home 
closely muffled, to keep her bed till the following 
day. 

Next morning it was the duty of Mokhtar, the 
bridegroom, to send his betrothed a bullock, with 
oil, butter and onions ; pepper, salt and spices ; 
charcoal and wood ; figs, raisins, dates and almonds ; 
candles and henna, wherewith to prepare the 
marriage feast. He had already, according to the 
custom of the country, presented the members of 
her family with slippers and ornaments. As soon 
as the bullock arrived it was killed amid great 
rejoicings and plenty of "tom-tom," especially as 
in the villages a sheep is usually considered suffi- 
cient provision. On this day Mokhtar's male 

88 



A COUNTRY WEDDING 89 

friends enjoyed a feast in the afternoon, while in 
the evening the bride had to undergo the process 
of re-staining with henna to the accompaniment of 
music. The usual effect of this was somewhat 
counteracted, however, by the wails of those who 
had lost relatives during the year. On each suc- 
cessive night, when the drumming began, the same 
sad scene was repeated — a strange alloy in all the 
merriment of the wedding. 

On the Tuesday Zoharah received her maiden 
friends, children attending the reception in the after- 
noon, till the none too roomy hut was crowded to 
suffocation, and the bride exhausted, although 
custom prescribed that she should lie all day on 
the bed, closely wrapped up, and seen by none of 
her guests, from whom she was separated by a 
curtain. Every visitor had brought with her some 
little gift, such as handkerchiefs, candles, sugar, tea, 
spices and dried fruits, the inspection of which, 
when all were gone, was her only diversion that 
day. Throughout that afternoon and the next the 
neighbouring villages rivalled one another in peace- 
ful sport and ear-splitting ululation, as though, within 
the memory of man, no other state of things had 
ever existed between them. 

Meanwhile Mokhtar had a more enlivening 
time with his bachelor friends, who, after feasting 
with him in the evening, escorted him, wrapped in 
a hdik or shawl, to the house of his betrothed, out- 
side which they danced and played for three or four 
hours by the light of lanterns. On returning home, 
much fun ensued round the supper-basin on the 
floor, while the palms of the whole company were 
stained with henna. Then their exuberant spirits 



90 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

found relief in dancing round with basins on their 
heads, till one of them dropped his basin, and 
snatching off Mokhtar's cloak as if for protection, 
was immediately chased by the others till supper 
was ready. After supper all lay back to sleep. For 
four days the bridegroom's family had thus to feast 
and amuse his male friends, while the ladies were 
entertained by that of the bride. 

On Wednesday came the turn of the married 
women visitors, whose bulky forms crowded the 
hut, if possible more closely than had their children. 
Gossip and scandal were now retailed with a zest 
and minuteness of detail not permissible in England, 
while rival belles waged wordy war in shouts which 
sounded like whispers amid the din. The walls of 
the hut were hung with the brightest coloured 
garments that could be borrowed, and the gorgeous 
finery of the guests made up a scene of dazzling 
colour. Green tea and cakes were first passed 
round, and then a tray for offerings for the musicians, 
which, when collected, were placed on the floor 
beneath a rich silk handkerchief. Presents were 
also made by all to the bride's mother, on behalf 
of her daughter, who sat in weary state on the bed 
at one end of the room. As each coin was put 
down for the players, or for the hostess, a portly 
female who acted as crier announced the sum con- 
tributed, with a prayer for blessing in return, which 
was in due course echoed by tbe chief musician. 
At the bridegroom's house a similar entertainment 
was held, the party promenading the lanes at dusk 
with torches and lanterns, after which they re- 
ceived from the bridegroom the powder for next 
day's play. 




A MOORISH CARAVAN. 



A COUNTRY WEDDING 91 

Thursday opened with much-needed rest for 
Z6harah and her mother till the time came for the 
final decking; but Mokhtar had to go to the bath 
with his bachelor friends, and on returning to his 
newly prepared dwelling, to present many of them 
with small coins, receiving in return cotton hand- 
kerchiefs and towels, big candles and matches. Then 
all sat down to a modest repast, for which he had 
provided raisins and other dried fruits, some addi- 
tional fun being provided by a number of the 
married neighbours, who tried in vain to gain 
admission, and in revenge made off with other 
people's shoes, ultimately returning them full of 
dried fruits and nuts. Then Mokhtar's head was 
shaved to the accompaniment of music, and the 
barber was feasted, while the box in which the 
bride was to be fetched was brought in, and decked 
with muslin curtains, surmounted by a woman's 
head-gear, handkerchiefs, and a sash. The box 
was about two and a half feet square, and 
somewhat more in height, including its pointed 
top. 

After three drummings to assemble the friends, a 
procession was formed about a couple of hours after 
sunset, lit by torches, lanterns and candles, led by 
the powder-players, followed by the mounted bride- 
groom, and behind him the bridal box lashed on 
the back of a horse ; surrounded by more excited 
powder-players, and closed by the musicians. As 
they proceeded by a circuitous route the women 
shrieked, the powder spoke, till all were roused 
to a fitting pitch of fervour, and so reached the 
house of the bride. " Behold, the bridegroom 
Cometh ! " 



92 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Presently the " litter " was deposited at the door, 
Mokhtar remaining a short distance off, while the 
huge old negress, who had officiated so far as mistress 
of the ceremonies, lifted Zoharah bodily off the 
bed, and placed her, crying, in the cage. In this 
a loaf of bread, a candle, some sugar and salt had 
been laid by way of securing good luck in her new 
establishment. Her valuables, packed in another 
box, were entrusted to the negress, who was to 
walk by her side, while strong arms mounted her, 
and lashed the " amariah " in its place. As soon as 
the procession had reformed, the music ceased, and 
a Fatihah * was solemnly recited. Then they started 
slowly, as they had come, Mokhtar leaving his bride 
as she was ushered, closely veiled, from her box 
into her new home, contenting himself with stand- 
ing by the side and letting her pass beneath his 
arm in token of submission. The door was then 
closed, and the bridegroom took a turn with his 
friends while the bride should compose herself, and 
all things be made ready by the negress. Later on 
he returned, and being admitted, the newly married 
couple met at last. 

Next day they were afforded a respite, but on 
Saturday the bride had once more to hold a recep- 
tion, and on the succeeding Thursday came the 
ceremony of donning the belt, a long, stiff band of 
embroidered silk, folded to some six inches in 
width, wound many times round. Standing over 
a dish containing almonds, raisins, figs, dates, and 
a couple of eggs, in the presence of a gathering 
of married women, one of whom assisted in the 
winding, two small boys adjusted the sash with 

* The beautiful opening prayer of the Kor^n. 



A COUNTRY WEDDING 93 

all due state, after which a procession was 
formed round the house, and the actual wedding 
was over. Thus commenced a year's imprison- 
ment for the bride, as it was not till she was 
herself a mother that she was permitted to revisit 
her old home. 



X 

THE BAIRNS 

'^ Every monkey is a gazelle to its mother." 

Moorish Proverb. 

If there is one point in the character of the Moor 
which commends itself above others to the mind of 
the European it is his love for his children. But 
when it is observed that in too many cases this love 
is unequally divided, and that the father prefers 
his sons to his daughters, our admiration is apt to 
wane. Though by no means an invariable rule, 
this is the most common outcome of the pride felt 
in being the father of a son who may be a credit to 
the house, and the feeling that a daughter who has 
to be provided for is an added responsibility. 

All is well when the two tiny children play 
together on the floor, and quarrel on equal terms, 
but it is another thing when little Hamed goes daily 
to school, and as soon as he has learned to read is 
brought home in triumph on a gaily dressed horse, 
heading a procession of shouting schoolfellows, 
while his pretty sister Fatimah is fast developing 
into a maid-of-all-work whom nobody thinks of 
noticing. And the distinction widens when Hamed 
rides in the " powder-play," or is trusted to keep 
shop by himself, while Fatimah is closely veiled 
and kept a prisoner indoors, body and mind 

94 



THE BAIRNS 95 

unexercised, distinguishable by colour and dress 
alone from Habibah, the ebony slave-girl, who 
was sold like a calf from Ijer mother's side. Yes, 
indeed, far different paths lie before the two play- 
mates, but while they are treated alike, let us take 
a peep at them in their innocent sweetness. 

Their mother, Ayeshah, went out as usual one 
morning to glean in the fields, and in the evening 
returned with two bundles upon her back ; the 
upper one was to replace crowing Hamed in his 
primitive cradle : it was Fatimah. Next day, as 
Ayeshah set off to work again, she left her son 
kicking up his heels on a pile of blankets, howling 
till he should become acquainted with his new 
surroundings, and a little skinny mite lay peace- 
fully sleeping where he had hitherto lived. No me- 
chanical bassinette ever swung more evenly, and no 
soft draperies made a better cot than the sheet tied 
up by the corners to a couple of ropes, and swung 
across the room like a hammock. The beauty of it 
was that, roll as he would, even active Hamed had 
been safe in it, and all his energies only served to 
rock him off to sleep again, for the sides almost 
met at the top. Yet he was by no means dull, for 
through a hole opposite his eye he could watch the 
cows and goats and sheep as they wandered about 
the yard, not to speak of the cocks and hens that 
roamed all over the place. 

At last the time came when both the wee ones 
could toddle, and Ayeshah carried them no more to 
the fields astride her hips or slung over her shoulders 
in a towel. They were then left to disport them- 
selves as they pleased — which, of course, meant 
rolling about on the ground, — their garments tied up 



96 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

under their arms, leaving them bare from the waist. 
No wonder that sitting on cold and wet stones had 
threatened to shrivel up their thin legs, which looked 
wonderfully shaky at best. 

It seems to be a maxim among the Moors that 
neither head, arms nor legs suffer in any way from 
exposure to cold or heat, and the mothers of the 
poorer classes think nothing of carrying their 
children slung across their backs with their little 
bare pates exposed to the sun and rain, or of 
allowing their lower limbs to become numbed with 
cold as just described. The sole recommendation 
of such a system is that only the fittest— in a certain 
sense — survive. Of the attention supposed to be 
bestowed in a greater or less degree upon all babes 
in our own land they get little. One result, how- 
ever, is satisfactory, for they early give up yelling, 
as an amusement which does not pay, and no one 
is troubled to march them up and down for hours 
when teething. Yet it is hardly surprising that 
under such conditions infant mortality is very great, 
and, indeed, all through life in this doctorless land 
astonishing numbers are carried off by diseases we 
should hardly consider dangerous. 

Beyond the much-enjoyed dandle on Father's 
knee, or the cuddle with Mother, delights are few 
in Moorish child-life, and of toys such as we have 
they know nothing, whatever they may find to 
take their place. But when a boy is old enough 
to amuse himself, there is no end to the mxischief 
and fun he will contrive, and the lads of Barbary 
are as fond of their games as we of ours. You 
may see them racing about after school hours 
at a species of " catch-as-catch-can," or playing 



THE BAIRNS 97 

football with their heels, or spinning tops, sometimes 
of European make. Or, dearest sport of all, racing a 
donkey while seated on its far hind quarters, with 
all the noise and enjoyment we threw into such 
pastimes a few years ago. To look at the merry 
faces of these lively youths, and to hear their cheery 
voices, is sufficient to convince anyone of their 
inherent capabilities, which might make them 
easily a match for English lads if they had their 
chances. 

But what chances have they ? At the age of 
four or five they are drafted off to school, not to 
be educated, but to be taught to read by rote, and 
to repeat long chapters of the Koran, if not the 
whole volume, by heart, hardly understanding what 
they read. Beyond this little is taught but the four 
great rules of arithmetic in the figures which we 
have borrowed from them, but worked out in the 
most primitive style. In "long" multiplication, 
for instance, they write every figure down, and 
"carry" nothing, so that a much more formidable 
addition than need be has to conclude the calculation. 
But they have a quaint system of learning their 
multiplication tables by mnemonics, in which every 
number is represented by a letter, and these being 
made up into words, are committed to memory in 
place of the figures. 

A Moorish school is a simple affair. No forms, 
no desks, few books. A number of boards about 
the size of foolscap, painted white on both sides, on 
which the various lessons — from the alphabet to 
portions of the Kordn — are plainly written in large 
black letters ; a switch or two, a pen and ink and 
a book, complete the furnishings. The dominie, 

H 



98 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

squatted tailor-fashion on the ground, like his pupils, 
who may number from ten to thirty, repeats the 
lesson in a sonorous sing-song voice, and is imitated 
by the little urchins, who accompany their voices 
by a rocking to and fro, which occasionally enables 
them to keep time. A sharp application of the 
switch is wonderfully effectual in re-calling wander- 
ing attention. Lazy boys are speedily expelled. 

On the admission of a pupil the parents pay 
some small sum, varying according to their means, 
and every Wednesday, which is a half-holiday, a 
payment is made from a farthing to twopence. New 
moons and feasts are made occasions for larger 
payments, and count as holidays, which last ten 
days on the occasion of the greater festivals. 
Thursday is a whole holiday, and no work is done 
on Friday morning, that being the Mohammedan 
Sabbath, or at least " meeting day," as it is called. 

At each successive stage of the scholastic career 
the schoolmaster parades the pupils one by one, if 
at all well-to-do, in the style already alluded to, 
collecting gifts from the grateful parents to supple- 
ment the few coppers the boys bring to school week 
by week. If they intend to become notaries or 
judges, they go on to study at Fez, where they 
purchase the key of a room at one of the colleges, 
and read to little purpose for several years. In 
everything the Koran is the standard work. The 
chapters therein being arranged without any idea 
of sequence, only according to length, — with the 
exception of the Fatihah, — the longest at the be- 
ginning and the shortest at the end, after the 
first the last is learned, and so backwards to the 
second. 



THE BAIRNS 99 

Most of the lads are expected to do something 
to earn their bread at quite an early age, in one 
way or another, even if not called on to assist their 
parents in something which requires an old head 
on young shoulders. Such youths being so early 
independent, at least in a measure, mix with older 
lads, who soon teach them all the vices they have 
not already learned, in which they speedily become 
as adept as their parents. 

Those intended for a mercantile career are put 
into the shop at twelve or fourteen, and after some 
experience in weighing-out and bargaining by the 
side of a father or elder brother, they are left 
entirely to themselves, being supplied with goods 
from the main shop as they need them. 

It is by this means that the multitudinous little 
box-shops which are a feature of the towns are 
enabled to pay their way, this being rendered 
possible by an expensive minutely retail trade. 
The average English tradesman is a wholesale 
dealer compared to these petty retailers, and very 
many middle-class English households take in suffi- 
cient supplies at a time to stock one of their shops. 
One reason for this is the hand-to-mouth manner 
in which the bulk of the people live, with no notion 
of thrift. They earn their day's wage, and if 
anything remains above the expense of living, it 
is invested in gay clothing or jimcracks. Another 
reason is that those who could afford it have seldom 
any member of their household whom they can 
trust as housekeeper, of which more anon. 

It seems ridiculous to send for sugar, tea, etc., 
by the ounce or less ; candles, boxes of matches, etc., 
one by one ; needles, thread, silk, in like proportion, 



loo LIFE IN MOROCCO 

even when cash Is available, but such is the practice 
here, and there is as much haggHng over the price 
of one candle as over that of an expensive article 
of clothing. Often quite little children, who else- 
where would be considered babes, are sent out to 
do the shopping, and these cheapen and bargain like 
the sharpest old folk, with what seems an inherent 
talent. 

Very little care is taken of even the children 
of the rich, and they get no careful training. The 
little sons and daughters of quite important per- 
sonages are allowed to run about as neglected and 
dirty as those of the very poor. Hence the prac- 
tice of shaving the head cannot be too highly 
praised in a country where so much filth abounds, 
and where cutaneous diseases of the worst type are 
so frequent. It is, however, noteworthy that while 
the Moors do not seem to consider it any disgrace 
to be scarred and covered with disgusting sores, 
the result of their own sins and those of their 
fathers, they are greatly ashamed of any ordinary 
skin disease on the head. But though the shaven 
skulls are the distinguishing feature of the boys in 
the house, where their dress closely resembles that 
of their sisters, the girls may be recognized by their 
ample locks, often dyed to a fashionable red with 
henna; yet they, too, are often partially shaved, 
sometimes in a fantastic style. It may be the hair 
in front is cut to a fringe an inch long over the 
forehead, and a strip a quarter of an inch wide is 
shaved just where the visible part of a child's comb 
would come, while behind this the natural frizzy 
or straight hair is left, cut short, while the head is 
shaved again round the ears and at the back of the 



THE BAIRNS loi 

neck. To perform these operations a barber is 
called in, who attends the family regularly. Little 
boys of certain tribes have long tufts left hanging 
behind their ears, and occasionally they also have 
their heads shaved in strange devices. 

Since no attempt is made to bring the children 
up as useful members of the community at the age 
when they are most susceptible, they are allowed 
to run wild. Thus, bright and tractable as they 
are naturally, no sooner do the lads approach the 
end of their 'teens, than a marked change comes 
over them, a change which even the most casual 
observer cannot fail to notice. The hitherto agree- 
able youths appear washed-out and worthless. All 
their energy has disappeared, and from this time 
till a second change takes place for the worse, large 
numbers drag out a weary existence, victims of 
vices which hold them in their grip, till as if 
burned up by a fierce but; short-lived fire, they 
ultimately become seared and shattered wrecks. 
From this time every effort is made to fan the 
flickering or extinguished flame, till death relieves 
the weary mortal of the burden of his life. 



XI 
''DINING OUT"* 

" A good supper is known by its odour." 

Moorish Proverb. 

There are no more important qualifications for the 
diner-out in Morocco than an open mind and a 
teachable spirit. Then start with a determination 
to forget European table manners, except in so far 
as they are based upon consideration for the feelings 
of others, setting yourself to do in Morocco as the 
Moors do, and you cannot fail to gain profit and 
pleasure from your experience. 

One slight difficulty arises from the fact that it 
is somewhat hard to be sure at any time that you 
have been definitely invited to partake of a Moorish 
meal. A request that you would call at three o'clock 
in the afternoon, mid-way between luncheon and 
dinner, would seem an unusual hour for a heavy 
repast, yet that is no guarantee that you may not be 
expected to partake freely of an elaborate feast. 

If you are a member of the frail, fair sex, the 
absence of all other women will speedily arouse you 
to the fact that you are in an oriental country, for 
in Morocco the sons and chief servants, though they 
eat after the master of the house, take precedence of 
the wives and women-folk, who eat what remains of 
* Contributed by my wife. — B. M. 

I02 



"DINING OUT" 103 

the various dishes, or have specially prepared meals 
in their own apartments. For the same reason you 
need not be surprised if you are waited upon after 
the men of the party, though this order is sometimes 
reversed where the host is familiar with European 
etiquette with regard to women. If a man, perhaps 
a son will wait upon you. 

The well-bred Moor is quite as great a stickler 
for the proprieties as the most conservative Anglo- 
Saxon, and you will do well if you show considera- 
tion at the outset by removing your shoes at the 
door of the room, turning a deaf ear to his assurance 
that such a proceeding is quite unnecessary on your 
part. A glance round the room will make it clear 
that your courtesy will be appreciated, for the carpet 
on the floor is bright and unmarked by muddy or 
dusty shoes (in spite of the condition of the streets 
outside), and the mattresses upon which you are 
invited to sit are immaculate in their whiteness. 

Having made yourself comfortable, you will 
admire the arrangements for the first item upon 
the programme. The slave-girl appears with a 
handsome tray, brass or silver, upon which there 
are a goodly number of cups or tiny glass tumblers, 
frequently both, of delicate pattern and artistic 
colouring, a silver tea-pot, a caddy of green tea, 
a silver or glass bowl filled with large, uneven lumps 
of sugar, which have been previously broken off from 
the loaf, and a glass containing sprigs of mint and 
verbena. The brass samovar comes next, and having 
measured the tea in the palm of his right hand, and 
put it into the pot, the host proceeds to pour a small 
amount of boiling water upon it, which he straight- 
way pours off, a precaution lest the Nazarenes should 



I04 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

have mingled some colouring matter therewith. He 
then adds enough sugar to ensure a semi-syrupy 
result, with some sprigs of peppermint, and fills the 
pot from the samovar. A few minutes later he pours 
out a little, which he tastes himself, frequently re- 
turning the remainder to the pot, although the more 
Europeanized consume the whole draught. If the 
test has been satisfactory, he proceeds to fill the 
cups or glasses, passing them in turn to the guests 
in order of distinction. To make a perceptible 
noise in drawing it from the glass to the mouth 
is esteemed a delicate token of appreciation. 

The tray is then removed ; the slave in attend- 
ance brings a chased brass basin and ewer of water, 
and before the serious portion of the meal begins 
you are expected to hold out your right hand just to 
cleanse it from any impurities whch may have been 
contracted in coming. Orange-flower water in a 
silver sprinkler is then brought in, followed by a brass 
incense burner filled with live charcoal, on which a 
small quantity of sandal-wood or other incense is 
placed, and the result is a delicious fragrance which 
you are invited to waft by a circular motion of your 
hands into your hair, your ribbons and your laces, 
while your Moorish host finds the folds of his loose 
garments invaluable for the retention of the spicy 
perfume. 

A circular table about eight inches high is then 
placed in the centre of the guests ; on this is placed 
a tray with the first course of the dinner, frequently 
puffs of delicate pastry fried in butter over a char- 
coal fire, and containing sometimes meat, sometimes 
a delicious compound of almond paste and cinnamon. 
This, being removed, is followed by a succession of 



"DINING OUT" 105 

savoury stews with rich, well-flavoured gravies, each 
with its own distinctive spiciness, but all excellently 
cooked. The host first dips a fragment of bread 
into the gravy, saying as he does so, " B'ism Illah !" 
(" In the name of God !"), which the guests repeat, 
as each follows suit with a sop from the dish. 

There is abundant scope for elegance of gesture 
in the eating of the stews, but still greater oppor- 
tunity when the piece de rhistance of a Moorish 
dinner, the dish of kesk'soo, is brought on. This 
kesk'soo is a small round granule prepared from 
semolina, which, having been steamed, is served 
like rice beneath and round an excellent stew, which 
is heaped up in the centre of the dish. With 
the thumb and two first fingers of the right hand 
you are expected to secure some succulent morsel 
from the stew, — meat, raisins, onions, or vegetable 
marrow, — and with it a small quantity of the kesk'soo. 
By a skilful motion of the palm the whole is formed 
into a round ball, which is thrown Avith a graceful 
curve of hand and wrist into the mouth. Woe be- 
tide you if your host is possessed by the hospitable 
desire to make one of these boluses for you, for he 
is apt to measure the cubic content of your mouth 
by that of his own, and for a moment your feelings 
will be too deep for words ; but this is only a brief 
discomfort, and you will find the dish an excellent 
one, "for Moorish cooks never serve tough meat. 

If your fingers have suffered from contact with 
the kesk'soo, it is permitted to you to apply your 
tongue to each digit in turn in the following order ; 
fourth (or little finger), second, thumb, third, first ; 
but a few moments later the slave appears, and after 
bearing away the table with the remains of the feast 



io6 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

gives the opportunity for a most satisfactory ablution. 
In this case you are expected to use soap, and to 
wash both hands, over which water is poured three 
times. If you are at all acquainted with Moorish 
ways, you will not fail at the same time to apply 
soap and water to your mouth both outwardly and 
inwardly, being careful to rinse it three times with 
plenty of noise, ejecting the water behind your hand 
into the basin which is held before you. 

Orange-flower water and incense now again 
appear, and you may be required to drink three 
more glasses of refreshing tea, though this is some- 
times omitted at the close of a repast. Of course 
" the feast of reason and the flow of soul" have not 
been lacking, and you have been repeatedly assured 
of your welcome, and invited to partake beyond the 
limit of human possibility, for the Moor believes 
you can pay no higher compliment to the dainties 
he has provided than by their consumption. 

For a while you linger, reclining upon the 
mattress as gracefully as may be possible for a 
tyro, with your arm upon a pile of many-coloured 
cushions of embroidered leather or cloth. Then, 
after a thousand mutual thanks and blessings, 
accompanied by graceful bowings and bendings, 
you say farewell and step to the door, where your 
slippers await you, and usher yourself out, not ill- 
satisfied with your initiation into the art of dining- 
out in Barbary. 



XII 

DOMESTIC ECONOMY 

" Manage with bread and butter till God sends the jam." 

Moorish Proverb. 

I F the ordinary regulations of social life among the 
Moors differ materially from those in force among 
ourselves, how much more so must the minor details 
of the housekeeping when, to begin with, the husband 
does the marketing and keeps the keys ! And the 
consequential Moor does, indeed, keep the keys, not 
only of the stores, but also often of the house. What 
would an English lady think of being coolly locked 
in a windowless house while her husband went for 
a journey, the provisions for the family being mean- 
while handed in each morning through a loophole 
by a trusty slave left as gaoler ? That no surprise 
whatever would be elicited in Barbary by such an 
arrangement speaks volumes. Woman has no voice 
under Mohammed's creed. 

Early in the morning let us take a stroll into 
the market, and see how things are managed there. 
Round the inside of a high-walled enclosure is a 
row of the rudest of booths. Over portions of the 
pathway, stretching across to other booths in the 
centre — if the market is a wide one — are pieces of 
cloth, vines on trellis, or canes interwoven with 
brushwood. As the sun gains strength these afford 

107 



io8 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

a most grateful shade, and during the heat of the 
day there is no more pleasant place for a stroll, and 
none more full of characteristic life. In the wider 
parts, on the ground, lie heaps two or three feet 
high of mint, verbena and lemon thyme, the much- 
esteemed flavourings for the national drink — green- 
tea syrup — exhaling a most delicious fragrance. It 
is early summer : the luscious oranges are not yet 
over, and in tempting piles they lie upon the 
stalls made of old packing-cases, many with still 
legible familiar English and French inscriptions. 
Apricots are selling at a halfpenny or less the 
pound, and plums and damsons, not to speak of 
greengages, keep good pace with them in price and 
sales. The bright tints of the lettuces and other 
fresh green vegetables serve to set off the rich 
colours of the God-made delicacies, but the prevail- 
ing hue of the scene is a restful earth-brown, an 
autumnal leaf-tint ; the trodden ground, the sun- 
dried brush-wood of the booths and awnings, and 
the wet-stained wood-work. No glamour of paint 
or gleam of glass destroys the harmony of the 
surroundings. 

But with all the feeling of cool and repose, rest 
there is not, or idleness, for there is not a brisker 
scene in an oriental town than its market-place. 
Thronging those narrow pathways come the rich 
and poor — the portly merchant in his morning 
cloak, a spotless white wool jelldb, with a turban 
and girth which bespeak easy circumstances ; the 
labourer in just such a cloak with the hood up, but 
one which was always brown, and is now much 
mended ; the slave in shirt and drawers, with a 
string round his shaven pate ; the keen little Jew 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY 109 

boy pushing and bargaining as no other could ; the 
bearded son of Israel, with piercing eyes, and his 
daughter with streaming hair ; lastly, the widow or 
time-worn wife of the poor Mohammedan, who must 
needs market for herself. Her wrinkled face and 
care-worn look tell a different tale from the pompous 
self-content of the merchant by her side, who drives 
as hard a bargain as she does. In his hand he 
carries a palmetto-leaf basket, already half full, 
as with slippered feet he carefully picks his way 
among puddles and garbage. 

" Good morning, O my master ; God bless 
thee ! " exclaims the stall-keeper as his customer 
comes in sight. 

Said el Faraji has to buy cloth of the merchant 
time and time again, so makes a point of pleasing 
one who can return a kindness. 

" No ill, praise God ; and thyself, O Said ? " 
comes the cheery reply ; then, after five minutes' 
mutual inquiry after one another's household, horses 
and other interests, health and general welfare, friend 
Said points out the daintiest articles on his stall, and 
in the most persuasive of tones names his " lowest 
price." 

All the while he is sitting cross-legged on an old 
box, with his scales before him. 

'* What ? Now, come, I'll give you so much," 
says the merchant, naming a price slightly less than 
that asked. 

" Make it so much," exclaims Said, even more 
persuasively than before, as he " splits the difference." 

"Well, I'll give you so much," offering just a 
little less than this sum. " I can't go above that, 
you know." 



no LIFE IN MOROCCO 

" All right, but you always get the better of me, 
you know. That is just what I paid. Anyhow, 
don't forget that when I want a new cloak," and 
he proceeds to measure out the purchases, using as 
weights two or three bits of old iron, a small cannon- 
ball, some bullets, screws, coins, etc. " Go with 
prosperity, my friend ; and may God bless thee ! " 

" And may God increase thy prosperity, and 
grant to thee a blessing ! " rejoins the successful 
man, as he proceeds to another stall. 

By the time he reaches home his basket will 
contain meat, fish, vegetables, fruit and herbs, 
besides, perhaps, a loaf of sugar, and a quarter of 
a pound of tea, with supplies of spices and some 
candles. Bread they make at home. 

The absurdly minute quantities of what we 
should call "stores," which a man will purchase 
who could well afford to lay in a supply, seem very 
strange to the foreigner ; but it is part of his 
domestic economy — or lack of that quality. He 
will not trust his wife with more than one day's 
supply at a time, and to weigh things out him- 
self each morning would be trouble not to be 
dreamed of; besides which it would deprive him 
of the pleasure of all that bargaining, not to speak 
of the appetite-promoting stroll, and the oppor- 
tunities for gossip with acquaintances which it 
affords. In consequence, wives and slaves are 
generally kept on short allowances, if these are 
granted at all. 

An amusing incident which came under my 
notice in Tangier shows how little the English idea 
of the community of interest of husband and wife 
is appreciated here. A Moorish woman who 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY iii 

used to furnish milk to an English family being 
met by the lady of the house one morning, when 
she had brought short measure, said, pointing to 
the husband in the distance, " You be my friend ; 
take this" (slipping a few coppers worth half a 
farthing into her hand), '* don't tell kwi anything 
about it. I'll share the profit with you ! " She 
probably knew from experience that the veriest 
trifle would suffice to buy over the wife of a Moor. 

Instructions having been given to his wife 
or wives as to what is to be prepared, and how — he 
probably pretends to know more of the art culinary 
than he does — the husband will start off to attend to 
his shop till lunch, which will be about noon. Then 
a few more hours in the shop, and before the sun 
sets a ride out to his garden by the river, returning 
in time for dinner at seven, after which come talk, 
prayers, and bed, completing what is more or less 
his daily round. His wives will probably be 
assisted in the house- work — or perhaps entirely 
relieved of it — by a slave-girl or two, and the water 
required will be brought in on the shoulders of a 
stalwart negro in skins or barrels filled from some 
fountain of good repute, but of certain contamination. 

In cooking the Moorish women excel, as their 
first-rate productions afford testimony. It is the cus- 
tom of some Europeans to systematically disparage 
native preparations, but such judges have been the 
victims either of their own indiscretion in eating 
too many rich things without the large proportion 
of bread or other digestible nutriment which should 
have accompanied them, or of the essays of their 
own servants, usually men without any more know- 
ledge of how their mothers prepare the dishes they 



112 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

attempt to imitate than an ordinary English work- 
ing man would have of similar matters. Of course 
there are certain flavourings which to many are 
really objectionable, but none can be worse to us 
than any preparation of pig would be to a Moor. 
Prominent among such is the ancient butter which 
forms the basis of much of their spicings, butter 
made from milk, which has been preserved — usually 
buried a year or two — till it has acquired the taste, 
and somewhat the appearance, of ripe Gorgonzola. 
Those who commence by trying a very slight flavour 
of this will find the fancy grow upon them, and there 
is no smell so absolutely appetizing as the faintest 
whiff of anything being cooked in this butter, called 
" smin." 

Another point, much misunderstood, which en- 
ables them to cook the toughest old rooster or 
plough-ox joint till it can be eaten readily with the 
fingers, is the stewing in oil or butter. When the 
oil itself is pure and fresh, it imparts no more taste 
to anything cooked in it than does the fresh butter 
used by the rich. Articles plunged into either at 
their high boiling point are immediately browned 
and enclosed in a kind of case, with a result which 
can be achieved in no other manner than by rolling 
in paste or clay, and cooking amid embers. Moorish 
pastry thus cooked in oil is excellent, flaky and 
light. 



XIII 
THE NATIVE ''MERCHANT'* 

" A turban without a beard shows lack of modesty." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Haj Mohammed et-Tajir, a grey-bearded worthy, 
who looks like a prince when he walks abroad, and 
dwells in a magnificent house, sits during business 
hours on a diminutive tick and wool mattress, on 
the floor of a cob-webbed room on one side of an 
ill-paved, uncovered, dirty court-yard. Light and 
air are admitted by the door in front of which he 
sits, while the long side behind him, the two ends, 
and much of the floor, are packed with valuable 
cloths, Manchester goods, silk, etc. Two other 
sides of the court-yard consist of similar stores, 
one occupied by a couple of Jews, and the other 
by another fine-looking Haj, his partner. 

Enters a Moor, in common clothing, market 
basket in hand. He advances to the entrance of 
the store, and salutes the owner respectfully — 
" Peace be with thee. Uncle Pilgrim ! " 

" With thee be peace, O my master," is the 
reply, and the new-comer is handed a cushion, and 
motioned to sit on it at the door. " How doest 
thou ? " " How fares thy house ? " " How dost 
thou find thyself this morning ? " *' Is nothing 
wrong with thee ? " These and similar inquiries 

113 I 



114 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

are showered by each on the other, and an equal 
abundance is returned of such replies as, " Nothing 
wrong ; " " Praise be to God ; " " All is well." 

When both cease for lack of breath, after a brief 
pause the new arrival asks, " Have you any of 
that 'Merican?" (unbleached calico). The dealer 
puts on an indignant air, as if astonished at being 
asked such a question. " Haz/e I ? There is no 
counting what I have of it," and he commences to 
tell his beads, trying to appear indifferent as to 
whether his visitor buys or not. Presently the 
latter, also anxious not to appear too eager, ex- 
claims, " Let's look at it." A piece is leisurely 
handed down, and the customer inquires in a 
disparaging tone, " How much ? " 

" Six and a half," and the speaker again appears 
absorbed in meditation. 

" Give thee six," says the customer, rising as if 
to go. 

" Wait, thou art very dear to us ; to thee alone 
will I give a special price, six and a quarter." 

" No, no," replies the customer, shaking his 
finger before his face, as though to emphasize his 
refusal of even such special terms. 

" Al-l-lah ! " piously breathes the dealer, as he 
gazes abstractedly out of the door, presently add- 
ing in the same devout tone, " There is no god but 
God ! God curse the infidels ! " 

"Come, I'll give thee six and an okea" — of 
which latter six and a half go to the 'quarter* 
peseta or franc of which six were offered. 

" No, six and five is the lowest I can take," 

The might-be purchaser made his last offer in a 
half-rising posture, and is now nearly erect as he 



THE NATIVE "MERCHANT" 115 

says, " Then I can't buy ; give it me for six and 
three," sitting down as though the bargain were 
struck. 

"No, I never sell that quality for less than six 
and four, and it's a thing I make no profit on ; you 
know that." 

The customer doesn't look as though he did, and 
rising, turns to go. 

*' Send a man to carry it away," says the dealer. 

" At six and three ! " 

"No, at six and four ! " and the customer goes 
away. 

" Send the man, it is thine," is hastily called 
after him, and in a few moments he returns with a 
Jewish porter, and pays his " six and three." 

So our worthy trader does business all day, and 
seems to thrive on it Occasionally a friend drops 
in to chat and not to buy, and now and then there 
is a beggar ; here is one. 

An aged crone she is, of most forbidding counte- 
nance, swathed in rags, it is a wonder she can keep 
together. She leans on a formidable staff, and in a 
piteous voice, " For the face of the Lord," and "In 
the name of my Lord Slave-of- the- Able " (Mulai 
Abd el Kader, a favourite saint), she begs some- 
thing " For God." One copper suffices to induce 
her to call down untold blessings on the head of the 
donor, and she trudges away in the mud, bare- 
footed, repeating her entreaties till they sound almost 
a wail, as she turns the next corner. But beggars 
who can be so easily disposed of at the rate of a 
hundred and ninety-five for a shilling can hardly be 
considered troublesome. 

A respectable-looking man next walks in with 



ii6 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

measured tread, and leaning towards us, says almost 
in a whisper — 

" O Friend of the Prophet, is there anything 
to-day ? " 

" Nothing, O my master," is the courteously 
toned reply, for the beggar appears to be a shareef 
or noble, and with a " God bless thee," disappears. 

A miserable wretch now turns up, and halfway 
across the yard begins to utter a whine which is 
speedily cut short by a curt " God help thee ! " 
whereat the visitor turns on his heel and is gone. 

With a confident bearing an untidy looking 
figure enters a moment later, and after due salaams 
inquires for a special kind of cloth, 

*' Call to-morrow morning," he is told, for he has 
not the air of a purchaser, and he takes his departure 
meekly. 

A creaky voice here breaks in from round the 
corner — 

" Hast thou not a copper for the sake of the 
Lord ? " 

" No, O my brother." 

After a few minutes another female comes on 
the scene, exhibiting enough of her face to show 
that it is a mass of sores. 

"Only a trifle, in the name of my lord Idrees," 
she cries, and turns away on being told, " God 
bring it ! " 

Then comes a policeman, a makhazni, who seats 
himself amid a shower of salutations — 

"Hast thou any more of those selhams " 
(hooded cloaks) ? 

" Come on the morrow, and thou shalt see." 

The explanation of this answer given by the 



THE NATIVE '' MERCHANT " 117 

"merchant" is that he sees such folk only mean 
to bother him for nothing. 

And this appears to be the daily routine of 
" business," though a good bargain must surely be 
made some time to have enabled our friend to 
acquire all the property he has, but so far as an 
outsider can judge, it must be a slow process. 
Anyhow, it has heartily tired the writer, who has 
whiled away the morning penning this account on a 
cushion on one side of the shop described. Yet it 
is a fair specimen of what has been observed by him 
on many a morning in this sleepy land. 



XIV 
SHOPPING* 

" Debt destroys religion." 

Moorish Proverb. 

If any should imagine that time is money in 
Morocco, let them undertake a shopping expedition 
in Tangier, the town on which, if anywhere in 
Morocco, occidental energy has set its seal. Not 
that one such excursion will suffice, unless, indeed, 
the purchaser be of the class who have more money 
than wit, or who are absolutely at the mercy of the 
guide and interpreter who pockets a commission 
upon every bargain he brings about. For the 
ordinary mortal, who wants to spread his dollars as 
far as it is possible for dollars to go, a tour of in- 
spection, if not two or three, will be necessary 
before such a feat can be accomplished. To be 
sure, there is always the risk that between one 
visit and another some coveted article may find 
its way into the hands of a more reckless, or at 
least less thrifty, purchaser, but that risk may be 
safely taken. 

There is something very attractive in the small 
cupboard-like shops of the main street. Their 

* Contributed by my wife. — B. M. 
ii8 




i Albert, Photo., Tunis. 



A TUNISIAN SHOPKEEPER. 



SHOPPING 119 

owners sit cross-legged ready for a chat, looking 
wonderfully picturesque in cream-coloured jellab, or in 
semi-transparent white farrajiyah, or tunic, allowing 
at the throat a glimpse of saffron, cerise, or green 
from the garment beneath. The white turban, be- 
neath which shows a line of red Fez cap, serves as 
a foil to the clear olive complexion and the dark 
eyes and brows, while the faces are in general goodly 
to look upon, except where the lines have grown 
coarse and sensuous. 

So strong is the impression of elegant leisure, 
that it is difficult to imagine that these men expect 
to make a living from their trade, but they are 
more than willing to display their goods, and will 
doubtless invite you to a seat upon the shop ledge 
— where your feet dangle gracefully above a rough 
cobble-stone pavement — and sometimes even to a 
cup of tea. One after another, in quick succession, 
carpets of different dimensions (but all oblong, for 
Moorish rooms are narrow in comparison with their 
length) are spread out in the street, and the shop- 
owners' satellite, by reiterated cries of " Balak ! 
Bdlak ! " (Mind out ! Mind out !) accompanied by 
persuasive pushes, keeps off the passing donkeys. 
A miniature crowd of interested spectators will 
doubtless gather round you, making remarks upon 
you and your purchases. Charmed by the artistic 
colourings, rich but never garish, you ask the 
price, and if you are wise you will immediately offer 
just half of that named. It is quite probable that 
the carpets will be folded up and returned to their 
places upon the shelf at the back of the shop, but it 
is equally probable that by slow and tactful yielding 
upon either side, interspersed with curses upon your 



I20 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

ancestors and upon yourself, the bargain will be 
struck about halfway between the two extremes. 

The same method must be adopted with every 
article bought, and if you purpose making many 
purchases in the same shop, you will be wise to obtain 
and write down the price quoted in each case as " the 
very lowest," and make your bid for the whole at 
once, lest, made cunning by one experience of your 
tactics, the shopman should put on a wider marginal 
profit in every other instance to circumvent you. 
It is also well for the purchaser to express ardent 
admiration in tones of calm indifference, for the 
Moor has quick perceptions, and though he may 
not understand English, when enthusiasm is appar- 
ent, he has the key to the situation, and refuses to 
lower his prices. 

Nevertheless, it is sometimes difficult to avoid a 
warm expression of admiration at the handsome 
brass trays, the Morocco leather bags into which 
such charming designs of contrasting colours are 
skilfully introduced, or the graceful utensils of 
copper and brass with which a closer acquaintance 
was made when you were the guest at a Moorish 
dinner. Many and interesting are the curious trifles 
which may be purchased, but they will be found in 
the greatest profusion in the bazaars established for 
the convenience of Nazarene tourists, where prices 
will frequently be named in English money, for an 
English '* yellow-boy " is nowhere better appreci- 
ated than in Tangier. 

In the shops in the s6k, or market-place, prices 
are sometimes more moderate, and there you may 
discover some of the more distinctively Moorish 
articles, which are brought in from the country ; 



SHOPPING 121 

nor can there be purchased a more interesting 
memento than a flint-lock, a pistol, or a carved 
dagger, all more or less elaborately decorated, such 
as are carried by town or country Moor, the former 
satisfied with a dagger in its chased sheath, except 
at the time of " powder-play," when flint-locks are 
in evidence everywhere. 

But in the market-place there are exposed for 
sale the more perishable things of Moorish living. 
Some of the small cupboards are grocers' shops, 
where semolina for the preparation of kesk'soo, 
the national dish, may be purchased, as well as 
candles for burning at the saints' shrines, and a 
multitude of small necessaries for the Moorish 
housewives. In the centre of the market sit the 
bread-sellers, for the most part women whose faces 
are supposed to be religiously kept veiled from the 
gaze of man, but who are apt to let their haiks 
fall back quite carelessly when only Europeans 
are near. An occasional glimpse may sometimes 
be thus obtained of a really pretty face of some 
lass on the verge of womanhood. 

Look at that girl in front of us, stooping over 
the stall of a vendor of what some one has dubbed 
" sticky nastinesses," her hdik lightly thrown 
back ; her bent form and the tiny hand protrud- 
ing at her side show that she is not alone, her 
little baby brother proving almost as much as 
she can carry. Her teeth are pearly white ; her 
hair and eyebrows are jet black ; her nut-brown 
cheeks bear a pleasant smile, and as she stretches 
out one hand to give the " confectioner " a few 
coppers, with the other clutching at her escaping 
garment, and moves on amongst the crowd, we 



122 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

come to the conclusion that if not fair, she is at 
least comely. 

The country women seated on the grround with 
their wares form a nucleus for a dense crowd. They 
have carried in upon their backs heavy loads of 
grass for provender, or firewood and charcoal which 
they sell in wholesale quantities to the smaller shop- 
keepers, who purchase from other countryfolk 
donkey loads of ripe melons and luscious black 

fiofS. 

There is a glorious inconsequence in the 
arrangement of the wares. Here you may see a 
pile of women's garments exposed for sale, and not 
far away are sweet-sellers with honey-cakes and 
other unattractive but toothsome delicacies. If 
you can catch a glimpse of the native brass- 
workers busily beating out artistic designs upon 
trays of different sizes and shapes, do not fail to 
seize the opportunity of watching them. You may 
form one in the ring gathered round the snake- 
charmer, or join the circle which listens open- 
mouthed and with breathless attention to that story- 
teller, who breaks off at a most critical juncture in 
his narrative to shake his tambourine, declaring 
that so close-fisted an audience does not deserve to 
hear another word, much less the conclusion of his 
fascinating tale. 

But before you join either party, indeed before 
you mingle at all freely in the crowd upon a 
Moorish market-place, it is well to remember that 
the flea is a common domestic insect, impartial in 
the distribution of his favours to Moor, Jew and 
Nazarene, and is in fact not averse to "fresh fields 
and pastures new." 



SHOPPING 123 

If you are clad in perishable garments, beware 
of the water-carrier with his goat-skin, his tinkHng 
bell, his brass cup, and his strange cry. Beware, 
too, of the strings of donkeys with heavily laden 
packs, and do not scruple to give them a forcible 
push out of your way. If you are mounted upon 
a donkey yourself, so much the better ; by watching 
the methods of your donkey-boy to ensure a clear 
passage for his beast, you will realize that dwellers 
in Barbary are not strangers to the spirit of the 
saying, " Each man for himself, and the de'il take 
the hindmost." 

Yet they are a pleasant crowd to be amongst, 
in spite of insect-life, water-carriers, and bulky pack- 
saddles, and there is an exhaustless store of interest, 
not alone in the wares they have for sale, and in 
the trades they ply, but more than all in the faces, 
so often keen and alert, and still more often bright 
and smiling. 

One typical example of Moorish methods of 
shopping, and I have done. Among those who 
make their money by trade, you may find a man 
who spends his time in bringing the would-be 
purchaser into intimate relations with the article 
he desires to obtain. He has no shop of his own, 
but may often be recognized as an interested 
spectator of some uncompleted bargain. Having 
discovered your dwelling-place, he proceeds to 
*' bring the mountain to Mohammed," and you will 
doubtless be confronted in the court-yard of your 
hotel by the very article for which you have been 
seeking in vain. Of course he expects a good price 
which shall ensure him a profit of at least fifty per 
cent, upon his expenditure, but he too is open to a 



124 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

bargain, and a little skilful pointing out of flaws in 
the article which he has brought for purchase, in a 
tone of calm and supreme indifference, is apt to 
ensure a very satisfactory reduction of price in 
favour of the shopper in Barbary. 



XV 



A SUNDAY MARKET 

" A climb with a friend is a descent," 

Moorish Proverb. 

One of the sights of Tangier is its market. Sundays 
and Thursdays, when the weather is fine, see the 
disused portion of the Mohammedan graveyard 
outside Bab el Fahs (called by the English Port St. 
Catherine, and now known commonly as the Sok 
Gate) crowded with buyers and sellers of most 
quaint appearance to the foreign eye, not to mention 
camels, horses, mules, and donkeys, or the goods 
they have brought. Hither come the sellers from 
long distances, trudging all the way on foot, laden 
or not, according to means, all eager to exchange 
their goods for European manufacturers, or to carry 
home a few more dollars to be buried with their 
store. 

Sunday is no Sabbath for the sons of Israel, so 
the money-changers are doing a brisk trade from 
baskets of filthy native bronze coin, the smallest of 
which go five hundred to the shilling, and the 
largest three hundred and thirty- three ! Hard by 
a venerable rabbi is leisurely cutting the throats 
of fowls brought to him for the purpose by the 
servants or children of Jews, after the careful in- 
spection enjoined by the Mosaic law. The old 

125 



126 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

gentleman has the coolest way of doing it imagin- 
able ; he might be only peeling an orange for the 
little girl who stands waiting. After apparently all 
but turning the victim inside out, he twists back its 
head under its wings, folding these across its breast 
as a handle, and with his free hand removing his 
razor-like knife from his mouth, nearly severs its 
neck and hands it to the child, who can scarcely 
restrain its struggles except by putting her foot on 
it, while he mechanically wipes his blade and pre- 
pares to despatch another. 

Eggs and milk are being sold a few yards off by 
country women squatted on the ground, the former 
in baskets or heaps on the stones, the latter in un- 
inviting red jars, with a round of prickly-pear leaf 
for a stopper, and a bit of palmetto rope for a 
handle. 

By this time we are in the midst of a perfect 
Babel — a human maelstrom. In a European crowd 
one is but crushed by human beings ; here all 
sorts of heavily laden quadrupeds, with packs often 
four feet across, come jostling past, sometimes with 
the most unsavoury loads. We have just time to 
observe that more country women are selling 
walnuts, vegetables, and fruits, on our left, at the 
door of what used to be the tobacco and hemp 
fandak, and that native sweets, German knick- 
knacks and Spanish fruit are being sold on our 
right, as amid the din of forges on either side 
we find ourselves in the midst of the crush to get 
through the narrow gate. 

Here an exciting scene ensues. Continuous 
streams of people and beasts of burden are pushing 
both ways ; a drove of donkeys laden with rough 



A SUNDAY MARKET 127 

bundles of cork-wood for the ovens approaches, 
the projecting ends prodding the passers-by ; 
another drove laden with stones tries to pass 
them, while half a dozen mules and horses vainly 
endeavour to pass out. A European horseman 
trots up and makes the people fly, but not so the 
beasts, till he gets wedged in the midst, and must 
bide his time after all. Meanwhile one is almost 
deafened by the noise of shouting, most of it good- 
humoured. " Zeed ! Arrah ! " vociferates the 
donkey-driver, " Balak ! " shouts the horseman. 
" Balak ! Guarda ! " (pronounced warda) in a louder 
key comes from a man who is trying to pilot a 
Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary 
through the gate, with Her Excellency on his 
arm. 

At last we seize a favourable opportunity and 
are through. Now we can breathe. In front of 
us, underneath an arch said to have been built to 
shelter the English guard two hundred years ago 
(which is very unlikely, since the English destroyed 
the fortifications of this gate), we see the native 
shoeing-smiths hacking at the hoofs of horses, 
mules, and donkeys, in a manner most extraordinary 
to us, and nailing on triangular plates with holes in 
the centre — though most keep a stock of English 
imported shoes and nails for the fastidious Naza- 
renes. Spanish and Jewish butchers are driving a 
roaring trade at movable stalls made of old boxes, 
and the din is here worse than ever. 

Now we turn aside into the vegetable market, 
as it is called, though as we enter we are almost 
sickened by the sight of more butchers' stalls, and 
further on by putrid fish. This market is typical. 



128 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Low thatched booths of branches and canes are 
the only shops but those of the butchers, the arcade 
which surrounds the interior of the building being 
chiefly used for stores. Here and there a filthy 
rag is stretched across the crowded way to keep 
the sun off, and anon we have to stop to avoid 
some drooping branch. Fruit and vegetables of 
all descriptions in season are sold amid the most 
good-humoured haggling. 

Emerging from this interesting scene by a gate 
leading to the outer sok, we come to one quite 
different in character. A large open space is 
packed with country people, their beats and their 
goods, and towns-people come out to purchase. 
Women seem to far outnumber the men, doubtless 
on account of their size and their conspicuous head- 
dress. They are almost entirely enveloped in 
white haiks, over the majority of which are thrown 
huge native sun-hats made of palmetto, with four 
coloured cords by way of rigging to keep the brim 
extended. When the sun goes down these are to 
be seen slung across the shoulders instead. Very 
many of the women have children slung on their 
backs, or squatting on their hips if big enough. 
This causes them to stoop, especially if some other 
burden is carried on their shoulders as well. 

On our right are typical Moorish shops, — 
grocers', if you please, — in which are exposed to 
view an assortment of dried fruits, such as nuts, 
raisins, figs, etc., with olive and argan oil, candles, 
tea, sugar, and native soap and butter. Certainly 
of all the goods that butter is the least inviting ; 
the soap, though the purest of "soft," looks a 
horribly repulsive mass, but the butter which, like 



A SUNDAY MARKET 129 

it, is streaked all over with finger marks, is in 
addition full of hairs. Similar shops are perched 
on our left, where old English biscuit-boxes are 
conspicuous. 

Beyond these come slipper- and clothes-menders. 
The former are at work on native slippers of such 
age that they would long ago have been thrown 
away in any less poverty-stricken land, trans- 
forming them into wearable if unsightly articles, 
after well soaking them in earthen pans. Just here 
a native "medicine man" dispenses nostrums of 
doubtful efficacy, and in front a quantity of red 
Moorish pottery is exposed for sale. This consists 
chiefly of braziers for charcoal and kesk'soo steamers 
for stewing meat and vegetables as well. 

A native ^^^'here attracts our attention. Under 
the shade of a covered way the kahwaji has a 
brazier on which he keeps a large kettle of water 
boiling. A few steps further on we light upon the 
sellers of native salt. This is in very large crystals, 
heaped in mule panniers, from which the dealers 
mete it out in wooden measures. It comes from 
along the beach near Old Tangier, where the heaps 
can be seen from the town, glistening in the sun- 
light. Ponds are dug along the shore, in which 
sea water is enclosed by miniature dykes, and on 
evaporating leaves the salt. 

Pressing on with difficulty through a crowd of 
horses, mules and donkeys, mostly tethered by 
their forefeet, we reach some huts in front of which 
are the most gorgeous native waistcoats exposed 
for sale, together with Manchester goods, by fat, 
ugly old women of a forbidding aspect. Further 
on we come upon " confectioners." A remarkable 

K 



130 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

peculiarity of the tables on which the sweets are 
being sold in front of us is the total absence of flies, 
though bees abound, in spite of the lazy whisking 
of the sweet-seller. The sweets themselves consist 
of red, yellow and white sticks of what Cousin 
Jonathan calls " candy ; " almond and gingelly rock, 
all frizzling in the sun. A small basin, whose 
contents resemble a dark plum-pudding full of 
seeds, contains a paste of the much-lauded hasheesh, 
the opiate of Morocco, which, though contraband, 
and strictly prohibited by Imperial decrees, is being 
freely purchased in small doses. 

On the opposite side of the way some old 
Spaniards are selling a kind of coiled-up fritter by 
the yard, swimming in oil. Then we come to a 
native restaurant. Trade does not appear very 
brisk, so we shall not interrupt it by pausing for a 
few moments to watch the cooking. In a tiny 
lean-to of sticks and thatch two men are at work. 
One is cutting up liver and what would be flead if 
the Moors ate pigs, into pieces about the size of a 
filbert. These the other threads on skewers in 
alternate layers, three or four of each. Having 
rolled them in a basin of pepper and salt, they are 
laid across an earthen pot resembling a log scooped 
out, like some primaeval boat. In the bottom of 
the hollow is a charcoal fire, which causes the 
khotbdn, as they are called, to give forth a most 
appetizing odour — the only thing tempting about 
them after seeing them made. Half loaves of 
native bread lie ready to hand, and the hungry 
passer-by is invited to take an al fresco meal for 
the veriest trifle. Another sort of kabdb — for such 
is the name of the preparation — is being made from 



A SUNDAY MARKET 131 

a large wash-basin full of ready seasoned minced 
meat, small handfuls of which the jovial d:/^^ adroitly 
plasters on more skewers, cooking them like the 
others. 

Squatted on the ground by the side of this 
" bar " is a retailer of ripened native butter, " war- 
ranted five years old." This one can readily smell 
without stooping ; it is in an earthenware pan, and 
looks very dirty, but is weighed out by the ounce 
as very precious after being kept so long under- 
ground. 

Opposite is the spot where the camels from and 
for the interior load and unload. Some forty of 
these ungainly but useful animals are here con- 
gregated in groups. At feeding-time a cloth is 
spread on the ground, on which a quantity of barley 
is poured in a heap. Each animal lies with its legs 
doubled up beneath it in a manner only possible 
to camels, with its head over the food, munching 
contentedly. In one of the groups we notice the 
driver beating his beast to make it kneel down 
preparatory to the removal of its pack, some two 
hundred-weight and a half After sundry un- 
pleasant sounds, and tramping backwards and 
forwards to find a comfortable spot, the gawky 
creature settles down in a stately fashion, packing 
up his stilt-like legs in regular order, limb after 
limb, till he attains the desired position. A short 
distance off one of them is making hideous noises 
by way of protest against the weight of the load 
being piled upon him, threatening to lose his 
temper, and throw a little red bladder out of his 
mouth, which, hanging there as he breathes ex- 
citedly, makes a most unpleasing sound. 



132 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Here one of the many water-carriers who have 
crossed our path does so again, tinkling his little 
bell of European manufacture, and we turn to watch 
him as he gives a poor lad to drink. Slung across 
his back is the *' bottle " of the East — a goat-skin 
with the legs sewn up. A long metal spout is tied 
into the neck, and on this he holds his left thumb, 
which he uses as a tap by removing it to aim a long 
stream of water into the tin mug in his right hand. 
Two bright brass cups cast and engraved in Fez 
hang from a chain round his neck, but these are 
reserved for purchasers, the urchin who is now 
enjoying a drink receiving it as charity. Tinkle, 
tinkle, goes the bell again, as the weary man moves 
on with his ever-lightening burden, till he is con- 
fronted by another wayfarer who turns to him to 
quench his thirst. As these skins are filled indis- 
criminately from wells and tanks, and cleaned inside 
with pitch, the taste must not be expected to satisfy- 
all palates ; but if hunger is the best sauce for food, 
thirst is an equal recommendation for drink. 

A few minutes' walk across a cattle-market 
brings us at last to the English church, a tasteful 
modern construction in pure Moorish style, and 
banishing the thoughts of our stroll, we join the 
approaching group of fellow-worshippers, for after 
all it is Sunday. 



XVI 
PLAY-TIME 

" According to thy shawl stretch thy leg." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Few of us realize to what an extent our amuse- 
ments, pastimes, and recreations enter into the 
formation of our individual, and consequently of our 
national, character. It is therefore well worth our 
while to take a glance at the Moor at play, or as 
near play as he ever gets. The stately father of a 
family must content himself, as his years and flesh 
increase, with such amusements as shall not entail 
exertion. By way of house game, since cards and 
all amusements involving chance are strictly for- 
bidden, chess reigns supreme, and even draughts — 
with which the denizens of the coffee-house, where 
he would not be seen, disport themselves — are 
despised by him. In Shiraz, however, the Sheikh ul 
Islam, or chief religious authority, declared himself 
shocked when I told him how often I had played 
this game with Moorish theologians, whereupon 
ensued a warm discussion as to whether it was a 
game of chance. At last I brought this to a satis- 
factory close by remarking that as his reverence was 
ignorant even of the rules of the game, — and there- 
fore no judge, since he had imagined it to be based 
on hazard, — he at least was manifestly innocent of it. 

133 



134 LIFE';IN MOROCCO 

The connection between chess and Arabdom 
should not be forgotten, especially as the very word 
with which it culminates, " checkmate," is but a 
corruption of the Arabic "sheikh mdt" — "chief 
dead." The king of games is, however, rare on 
the whole, requiring too much concentration for a 
weary or lazy official, or a merchant after a busy 
day. Their method of playing does not materially 
differ from ours, but they play draughts with very 
much more excitement and fun. The jocular vitu- 
peration which follows a successful sally, and the 
almost unintelligible rapidity with which the moves 
are made, are as novel to the European as appreci- 
ated by the natives. 

Gossip, the effervescence of an idle brain, is the 
prevailing pastime, and at no afternoon tea-table in 
Great Britain is more aimless talk indulged in than 
while the cup goes round among the Moors. The 
ladies, with a more limited scope, are not far 
behind their lords in this respect. Otherwise their 
spare time is devoted to minutely fine embroidery. 
This is done in silk on a piece of calico or linen 
tightly stretched on a frame, and is the same on 
both sides ; in this way are ornamented curtains, 
pillow-cases, mattress-covers, etc. It is, neverthe- 
less, considered so far a superfluity that few who 
have not abundant time to spare trouble about 
it, and the material decorated is seldom worth the 
labour bestowed thereon. 

The fact is that in these southern latitudes as 
little time as possible is passed within doors, and 
for this reason we must seek the real amusements 
of the people outside. When at home they seem 
to think it sufficient to loll about all the day long if 



PLAY-TIME 135 

not at work, especially if they have an enclosed 
flower-garden, beautifully wild and full of green and 
flowers, with trickling, splashing water. I exclude, 
of course, all feasts and times when the musicians 
come, but I must not omit mention of dancing. 
Easterns think their western friends mad to dance 
themselves, when they can so easily get others to 
do it for them, so they hire a number of women to 
go through all manner of quaint — too often indecent 
— posings and wrigglings before them, to the tune 
of a nasal chant, which, aided by fiddles, banjos, 
and tambourines, is being drawled out by the 
musicians. Some of these seemingly inharmonious 
productions are really enjoyable when one gets into 
the spirit of the thing. 

At times the Moors are themselves full of life 
and vigour, especially in the enjoyment of what 
may be called the national sport of " powder-play," 
not to speak of boar-hunting, hawking, rabbit-chas- 
ing, and kindred pastimes. Just as in the days of 
yore their forefathers excelled in the use of the 
spear, brandishing and twirling it as easily as an 
Indian club or singlestick, so they excel to-day in 
the exercise of their five-foot flint-locks, performing 
the most dexterous feats on horseback at full gallop. 

Here is such a display about to commence. It 
is the feast of Mohammed's birthday, and the 
market-place outside the gate, so changed since 
yesterday, is crowded with spectators ; men and 
boys in gay, but still harmonious, colours, decked 
out for the day, and women shrouded in their 
blankets, plain wool-white. An open space is left 
right through the centre, up a gentle slope, and a 
dozen horsemen are spurring and holding in their 



136 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

prancing steeds at yonder lower end. At some un- 
noticed signal they have started towards us. They 
gallop wildly, the beat of their horses' hoofs sounding 
as iron hail on the stony way. A cloud of dust flies 
upward, and before we are aware of it they are 
abreast of us — a waving, indistinguishable mass of 
flowing robes, of brandished muskets, and of strain- 
ing, foaming steeds. We can just see them tossing 
their guns in the air, and then a rider, bolder than 
the rest, stands on his saddle, whirling round his 
firearm aloft without stopping, while another swings 
his long weapon underneath his horse, and seizes 
it upon the other side. But now they are in line 
again, and every gun is pointed over the right, 
behind the back, the butt grasped by the twisted 
left arm, and the lock by the right under the left 
armpit. In this constrained position they fire at an 
imaginary foe who is supposed to have appeared 
from ambush as they pass. Immediately the reins 
— which have hitherto been held in the mouth, the 
steed guided by the feet against his gory flanks — 
are pulled up tight, throwing the animal upon his 
haunches, and wheeling him round for a sober walk 
back. 

This is, in truth, a practice or drill for war, for 
such is the method of fighting in these parts. A 
sortie is made to seek the hidden foe, who may start 
up anywhere from the ravines or boulders, and who 
must be aimed at instanter, before he regains his 
cover, while those who have observed him must as 
quickly as possible get beyond his range to reload 
and procure reinforcements. 

The only other active sports of moment, apart 
from occasional horse races, are football and fencing, 



PLAY-TIME 137 

indulged in by boys. The former is played with a 
stuffed leather ball some six or eight inches across, 
which is kicked into the air with the back of the 
heel, and caught in the hands, the object being to 
drive it as high as possible. The fencing is only 
remarkable for its free and easy style, and the 
absence of hilts and guards. 

Yet there are milder pastimes in equal favour, 
and far more in accordance with the fancy of 
southerners in warm weather, such as watching a 
group of jugglers or snake-charmers, or listening 
to a story-teller. These are to be met with in the 
market-place towards the close of hot and busy days, 
when the wearied bargainers gather in groups to 
rest before commencing the homeward trudge. 
The jugglers are usually poor, the production of 
fire from the mouth, of water from an empty jar, 
and so on, forming stock items. But often fearful 
realities are to be seen — men who in a frenzied state 
catch cannon balls upon their heads, blood spurting 
out on every side ; or, who stick skewers through 
their legs. These are religious devotees who live 
by such performances. From the public raconteur 
the Moor derives the excitement the European 
finds in his novel, or the tale "to be continued in 
our next," and it probably does him less harm. 



XVII 
THE STORY-TELLER 

" Gentleman without reading, dog without scent." 

Moorish Proverb. 

The story-teller Is, par excellence, the prince of 
Moorish performers. Even to the stranger un- 
acquainted with the language the sight of the Arab 
bard and his attentive audience on some erstwhile 
bustling market at the ebbing day is full of interest 
— to the student of human nature a continual at- 
traction. After a long trudge from home, com- 
menced before dawn, and a weary haggling over 
the most worthless of " coppers " during the heat of 
the day, the poor folk are quite ready for a quiet 
resting-time, with something to distract their minds 
and fill them with thoughts for the homeward way. 
Here have been fanned and fed the great religious 
and political movements which from time to time 
have convulsed the Empire, and here the pulse of 
the nation throbs. In the cities men lead a different 
life, and though the townsfolk appreciate tales as 
well as any, it is on these market-places that the 
wandering troubadour gathers the largest crowds. 

Like public performers everywhere, a story- 
teller of note always goes about with regular 
assistants, who act as summoners to his entertain- 
ment, and as chorus to his songs. They consist 

138 



THE STORY-TELLER 139 

usually of a player on the native fiddle, another 
who keeps time on a tambourine, and a third who 
beats a kind of earthenware drum with his fingers. 
Less pretentious " professors " are content with 
themselves manipulating a round or square tam- 
bourine or a two-stringed fiddle, and to many this 
style has a peculiar charm of its own. Each pause, 
however slight, is marked by two or three sharp 
beats on the tightly stretched skin, or twangs with 
a palmetto leaf plectrum, loud or soft, according 
to the subject of the discourse at that point. The 
dress of this class — the one most frequently met 
with — is usually of the plainest, if not of the 
scantiest ; a tattered brown jellab (a hooded woollen 
cloak) and a camel's-hair cord round the tanned 
and shaven skull are the garments which strike the 
eye. Waving bare arms and sinewy legs, with a 
wild, keen-featured face, lit up by flashing eyes, 
complete the picture. 

This is the man from whom to learn of love 
and fighting, of beautiful women and hairbreadth 
escapes, the whole on the model of the " Thousand 
Nights and a Night," of which versions more or 
less recognizable may now and again be heard from 
his lips. Commencing with plenty of tambourine, 
and a few suggestive hints of what is to follow, he 
gathers around him a motley audience, the first 
comers squatting in a circle, and later arrivals 
standing behind. Gradually their excitement is 
aroused, and as their interest grows, the realistic 
semi-acting and the earnest mien of the performer 
rivet every eye upon him. Suddenly his wild 
gesticulations cease at the entrancing point. One 
step more for liberty, one blow, and the charming 



I40 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

prize would be in the possession of her adorer. 
Now is the time to " cash up." With a pious 
reference to " our lord Mohammed — the prayer of 
God be on him, and peace," — and an invocation of a 
local patron saint or other equally revered defunct, 
an appeal is made to the pockets of the Faithful 
" for the sake of Mulai Abd el Kader "— " Lord 
Slave-of-the-Able." Arousing as from a trance, 
the eager listeners instinctively commence to feel 
in their pockets for the balance from the day's 
bargaining ; and as every blessing from the legion 
of saints who would fill the Mohammedan calendar 
if there were one is invoked on the cheerful giver, 
one by one throws down his hard-earned coppers — 
one or two — and as if realizing what he has parted 
with, turns away with a long-drawn breath to un- 
tether his beasts, and set off home. 

But exciting as are these acknowledged fictions, 
specimens are so familiar to most readers from the 
pages of the collection referred to that much more 
interest will be felt in an attempt to reproduce one 
of a higher type, pseudo-historical, and alleged to 
be true. Such narratives exhibit much of native 
character, and shades of thought unencountered 
save in daily intercourse with the people. Let us, 
therefore, seize the opportunity of a visit from a 
noted raconteur and reputed poet to hear his story. 
Tame, indeed, would be the result of an endeavour 
to transfer to black and white the animated tones 
and gestures of the narrator, which the imagination 
of the reader must supply. 

The initial " voluntary " by the " orchestra " has 
ended ; every eye is directed towards the central 
figure, this time arrayed in ample turban, white 



THE STORY-TELLER 141 

jellab and yellow slippers, with a face betokening 
a lucrative profession. After a moment's silence he 
commences the history of — 

"MuLAi Abd el Kader and the Monk 
OF Monks." 

"The thrones of the Nazarenes were once in 
number sixty, but the star of the Prophet of God — ■ 
the prayer of God be on him, and peace — was in the 
ascendant, and the religion of Resignation [Islam] 
was everywhere victorious. Many of the occupiers 
of those thrones had either submitted to the 
Lieutenant [' Caliph '] of our Lord, and become 
Muslimeen, or had been vanquished by force of 
arms. The others were terrified, and a general 
assembly was convoked to see what was to be done. 
As the rulers saw they were helpless against the 
decree of God, they called for their monks to advise 
them. The result of the conference was that it was 
decided to invite the Resigned Ones (Muslimeen) to 
a discussion on their religious differences, on the 
understanding that whichever was victorious should 
be thenceforth supreme. 

" The Leader of the Faithful having summoned 
his wise men, their opinion was asked. 'O victorious 
of God,' they with one voice replied, ' since God, 
the High and Blessed, is our King, what have we 
to fear ? Having on our side the truth revealed in 
the " Book to be Read " [the Koran] by the hand 
of the Messenger of God — the prayer of God be on 
him, and peace — we imist prevail. Let us willingly 
accept their proposal.' An early day was accord- 
ingly fixed for the decisive contest, and each party 
marshalled its forces. At the appointed time they 
met, a great crowd on either side, and it was asked 
which should begin. Knowing that victory was on 
his side, the Lieutenant of the Prophet — the prayer 



142 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

of God be on him, and peace — replied, ' Since ye 
have desired this meeting, open ye the discussion.' 

"Then the chief of the Nazarene kings made 
answer, * But we are here so many gathered together, 
that if we commence to dispute all round we shall 
not finish by the Judgement Day. Let each party 
therefore choose its wisest man, and let the two 
debate before us, the remainder judging the result.' 

" ' Well hast thou spoken,' said the Leader of 
the Faithful ; ' be it even so.' Then the learned 
among the Resigned selected our lord Abd el 
Kader of Baghdad,* a man renowned the world over 
for piety and for the depth of his learning. Now a 
prayer [Fatihah] for Mulai Abd el Kader ! " 

Here the speaker, extending his open palms side 
by side before him, as if to receive a blessing 
thereon, is copied by the by-standers.f " In the 
name of God, the Pitying, the Pitiful ! " All draw 
their hands down their faces, and, if they boast 
beards, end by stroking them out. 

"Then the polytheistsj likewise chose their 
man, one held among them in the highest esteem, 
well read and wise, a monk of monks. Between 
these two, then, the controversy commenced. As 
already agreed, the Nazarene was the first to 
question : 

" ' How far is it from the Earth to the first 
heaven ? ' 

" * Five hundred years.' 

" * And thence to the second heaven ? ' 

" ' Five hundred years.' 

" ' Thence to the third ? ' 

* So called because buried near that city. For an account of his 
life, and view of his mausoleum, see " The Moors," pp. 337-339. 

t " The hands are raised in order to catch a blessing in them, and 
are afterwards drawn over the face to transfer it to every part of the 
body."— Hughes, " Dictionary of IsMm." 

{ A term applied by Mohammedans to Christians on account of 
a mistaken conception of the doctrine of the Trinity. 



THE STORY-TELLER 143 

" * Five hundred years.' 

" ' Thence to the fourth ? ' 

" ' Five hundred years.' 

" ' Thence to the fifth ? * 

" * Five hundred years.' 

" ' Thence to the sixth ? ' 

" ' Five hundred years.' 

" * Thence to the seventh ^ ' 

** ' Five hundred years.' 

" ' And from Mekka to Jerusalem ? ' 

" ' Forty days.' 

'"Add up the whole.' 

" ' Three thousand, five hundred years, and forty 
days.' 

" * In his famous ride on El Borak [Lightning] 
where did Mohammed go ? ' 

" ' From the Sacred Temple [of Mekka] to the 
Further Temple [of Jerusalem], and from the Holy 
House [Jerusalem] to the seventh heaven, and the 
presence of God.' * 

" ' How long did this take ? ' 

" ' The tenth of one night.' 

" ' Did he find his bed still warm on his return ? ' 

" • Yes.' 

" ' Dost thou think such a thing possible ; to 
travel three thousand five hundred years and back, 
and find one's bed still warm on returning ? ' 

" * Canst thou play chess ? ' then asked Mulai 
Abd el Kader. 

" ' Of course I can,' said the monk, surprised. 

** * Then, wilt thou play with me ? ' 

** ' Certainly not,' replied the monk, indignantly. 
' Dost thou think me a fool, to come here to dis- 
cuss the science of religion, and to be put off with a 
game of chess ? ' 

* This was the occasion on which Mohammed visited the seven 
heavens under the care of Gabriel, riding on an ass so restive that he 
had to be bribed with a promise of Paradise. 



144 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

** ' Then thou acknowledgest thyself beaten ; 
thou hast said thou couldst play chess, yet thou 
darest not measure thy skill at it with me. Thy 
refusal proves thy lie.' 

" ' Nay, then, since thou takest it that way, I 
will consent to a match, but under protest.' 

" So the board was brought, and the players 
seated themselves. Move, move, move, went the 
pieces ; kings and queens, elephants, rooks, and 
knights, with the soldiers everywhere. One by one 
they disappeared, as the fight grew fast and furious. 
But Mulai Abd el Kader had another object in 
view than the routing of his antagonist at a game 
of chess. By the exercise of his superhuman power 
he transported the monk to 'the empty third' [of 
the world], while his image remained before him at 
the board, to all appearances still absorbed in the 
contest. 

'* Meanwhile the monk could not tell where he 
was, but being oppressed with a sense of severe 
thirst, rose from where he sat, and made for a rising 
ground near by, whence he hoped to be able to 
descry some signs of vegetation, which should 
denote the presence of water. Giddy and tired out, 
he approached the top, when what was his joy to 
see a city surrounded by palms but a short way off! 
With a cry of delight he quickened his steps and 
approached the gate. As he did so, a party of 
seven men in gorgeous apparel of wool and silk 
came out of the gate, each with a staff in his hand. 

" On meeting him they offered him the salutation 
of the Faithful, but he did not return it. * Who 
mayest thou be,' they asked, *who dost not wish 
peace to the Resigned ? ' [Muslimeen]. ' My Lords,' 
he made answer, * I am a monk of the Nazarenes, 
I merely seek water to quench my thirst.' 

" * But he who comes here must resign himself 
[to Mohammedanism] or suffer the consequences. 



THE STORY-TELLER 145 

Testify that ' There is no god but God, and 
Mohammed is His Messenger!' 'Never,' he re- 
pHed ; and immediately they threw him on the 
ground and flogged him with their staves till he 
cried for mercy. * Stop ! ' he implored. * I will 
testify.' No sooner had he done so than they 
ceased their blows, and Raising him up gave him 
water to drink. Then, tearing his monkish robe to 
shreds, each deprived himself of a garment to dress 
him becomingly. Having re-entered the city they 
repaired to the judge. 

" * My Lord,' they said, ' we bring before thee 
a brother Resigned, once a monk of the monks, 
now a follower of the Prophet, our lord — the 
prayer of God be on him, and peace. We pray 
thee to accept his testimony and record it in due 
form.' 

" * Welcome to thee ; testify ! ' exclaimed the 
kadi, turning to the convert. Then, holding up 
his forefinger, the quondam monk witnessed to the 
truth of the Unity [of God]. ' Call for a barber ! ' 
cried the kddi ; and a barber was brought. Seven 
Believers of repute stood round while the deed was 
done, and the convert rose a circumcised Muslim — 
blessed be God. 

" Then came forward a notable man of that 
town, pious, worthy, and rich, respected of all, who 
said, addressing the kadi : * My Lord — may God 
bless thy days, — thou knowest, all these worthy ones 
know, who and what I am. In the interests of 
religion and to the honour of God, I ask leave to 
adopt this brother newly resigned. What is mine 
shall be his to share with my own sons, and the care 
I bestow on them and their education shall be 
bestowed equally on him. God is witness.' * Well 
said ; so be it,' replied the learned judge ; ' hence- 
forth he is a member of thy family.' 

"So to the hospitable roof of this pious one 

L 



146 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

went the convert. A tutor was obtained for him, 
and he commenced to taste the riches of the 
wisdom of the Arab. Day after day he sat and 
studied, toiHng faithfully, till teacher after teacher 
had to be procured, as he exhausted the stores of 
each in succession. So he read : first the Book ' To 
be Read ' [the Koran], till he could repeat it fault- 
lessly, then the works of the poets, KalCin, el Mikki, 
el Bisri, and Sidi Hamzah ; then the * Lesser ' and 
' Greater Ten.' * Then he commenced at Sidi ibnu 
Ashir, following on through the Ajr<imiyah,f and 
the Alfiyah,J to the commentaries of Sidi Khalil, of 
the Sheikh el Bokhari, and of Ibnu Asim, till there 
was nothing left to learn. 

" Thus he continued growing in wisdom and 
honour, the first year, the second year, the third 
year, even to the twentieth year, till no one could 
compete with him. Then the Judge of Judges of 
that country died, and a successor was sought for, 
but all allowed that no one's claims equalled those 
of the erstwhile monk. So he was summoned to fill 
the post, but was disqualified as unmarried. When 
they inquired if he was willing to do his duty in this 
respect, and he replied that he was, the father of 
the most beautiful girl in the city bestowed her on 
him, and that she might not be portionless, the chief 
men of the place vied one with another in heaping 
riches upon him. So he became Judge of Judges, 
rich, happy, revered. 

" And there was born unto him one son, then a 
second son, and even a third son. And there was 
born unto him a daughter, then a second daughter, 
and even a third daughter. So he prospered and 
increased. And to his sons were born sons, one, 
two, three, and four, and daughters withal. And his 

* Grammarians and commentators of the Kord.n. 

t A preliminary work on rhetoric. 

t The " Thousand Verses " of grammar. 



THE STORY-TELLER 147 

daughters were given in marriage to the elders of 
that country, and with them it was likewise. 

"Now there came a day, a great feast day, when 
all his descendants came before him with their com- 
pliments and offerings, some small, some great, each 
receiving tenfold in return, garments of fine spun 
wool and silk, and other articles of value. 

" When the ceremony was over he went outside 
the town to walk alone, and approached the spot 
whence he had first descried what had so long 
since been his home. As he sat again upon that 
well-remembered spot, and glanced back at the 
many years which had elapsed since last he was 
there, a party of the Faithful drew near. He offered 
the customary salute of * Peace be on you,' but they 
simply stared in return. Presently one of them 
brusquely asked what he was doing there, and he 
explained who he was. But they laughed in- 
credulously, and then he noticed that once again 
he was clad in robe and cowl, with a cord round his 
waist. They taunted him as a liar, but he re-affirmed 
his statements, and related his history. He counted 
up the years since he had resigned himself, telling 
of his children and children's children. 

" * Wouldst thou know them if you sawst them ? ' 
asked the strangers. * Indeed I would,' was the 
reply, ' but they would know me first.' 

" * And you are really circumcised ? We'll see ! ' 
was their next exclamation. Just then a caravan 
appeared, wending its way across the plain, and the 
travellers hailed it. As he looked up at the shout, 
he saw Mulai Abd el Kader still sitting opposite 
him at the chess-board, reminding him that it was 
his move. He had been recounting his experiences 
for the last half century to Mulai Abd el Kader 
himself, and to the wise ones of both creeds who 
surrounded them ! 



148 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

" Indeed it was too true, and he had to acknow- 
ledge that the events of a Hfe-time had been crowded 
into a period undefinably minute, by the God-sent 
power of my lord Slave-of-the-Able [Mulai Abd 
el Kader]. 

" Now, where is the good man and true who 
reveres the name of this holy one ? Who will say 
a prayer to Mulai Abd el Kader ? " Here the 
narrator extends his palms as before, and all follow 
him in the motion of drawing them down his face. 
" In the name of the Pitying and Pitiful ! Now 
another ! " The performance is repeated. 

"Who is willing to yield himself wholly and 
entirely to Mulai Abd el Kdder ? Who will dedi- 
cate himself from the soles of his feet to the crown 
of his head ? Another prayer ! " Another repe- 
tition of the performance. 

*' Now let those devoted men earn the effectual 
prayers of that holy one by offering their silver in 
his name. Nothing less than a peseta* will do. 
That's right," as one of the bystanders throws 
down the coin specified. 

'* Now let us implore the blessing of God and 
Mulai Abd el Kader on the head of this liberal 
Believer." The palm performance is once more 
gone through. The earnestness with which he 
does it this time induces more to follow suit, and 
blessings on them also are besought in the same 
fashion. 

*' Now, my friends, which among you will do 
business with the palms of all these faithful ones ? 
Pay a peseta and buy the prayers of them all. 
Now then, deal them out, and purchase happiness." 

So the appeal goes wearisomely on. As no 
more pesetas are seen to be forthcoming, a shift 

* About eightpence, a labourer's daily wage in Tangier. 



THE STORY-TELLER 149 

is made with reals — nominally 2^d. pieces — the 
story-teller asking those who cannot afford more 
to make up first one dollar and then another, turn- 
ing naively to his assistant to ask if they haven't 
obtained enough yet, as though it were all for them. 
As they reply that more is needed, he redoubles 
his appeals and prayers, threading his way in and 
out among the crowd, making direct for each well- 
dressed individual with a confidence which renders 
flight or refusal a shame. Meanwhile the "orches- 
tra " has struck up, and only pauses when the " pro- 
fessor" returns to the centre of the circle to call 
on all present to unite in prayers for the givers. A 
few coppers which have been tossed to his feet are 
distributed scornfully amongst half a dozen beggars, 
in various stages of filthy wretchedness and defor- 
mity, who have collected on the ground at one 
side. 

Here a water-carrier makes his appearance, 
with his goat-skin " bottle " and tinkling bell — a 
swarthy Soudanese in most tattered garb. The 
players and many listeners having been duly re- 
freshed for the veriest trifle, the performance con- 
tinues. A prayer is even said for the solitary 
European among the crowd, on his being success- 
fully solicited for his quota, and another for his 
father at the request of some of the crowd, who 
style him the ** Friend of the Moors." 

At last a resort is made to coppers, and when 
the story-teller condescendingly consents to receive 
even such trifles in return for prayers, from those 
who cannot afford more, quite a pattering shower 
falls at his feet, which is supplemented by a further 
hand-to-hand collection. In all, between four and 



ISO LIFE IN MOROCCO 

five dollars must have been received — not a bad 
remuneration for an hour's work ! Already the 
ring has been thinning ; now there is a general 
uprising, and in a few moments the scene is com- 
pletely changed, the entertainer lost among the 
entertained, for the sun has disappeared below yon 
hill, and in a few moments night will fall. 



XVIII 
SNAKE-CHARMING 

" Whom a snake has bitten starts from a rope." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Descriptions of this art remembered in a book 
for boys read years before had prepared me for 
the most wonderful scenes, and when I first watched 
the performance with snakes which dehghts the 
Moors I was disappointed. Yet often as I might 
look on, there was nothing else to see, save in the 
faces and gestures of the crowd, who with child- 
like simplicity followed every step as though for 
the first time. These have for me a never-ending 
fascination. Thus it is that the familiar sounds of 
rapid and spasmodic beating on a tambourine, which 
tell that the charmer is collecting an audience, 
still prove an irresistible attraction for me as well. 
The ring in which I find myself is just a reproduc- 
tion of that surrounding the story-teller of yester- 
e'en, but where his musicians sat there is a wilder 
group, more striking still in their appearance. 

This time, also, the instruments are of another 
class, two or three of the plainest sheep-skin tam- 
bourines with two gut strings across the centre under 
the parchment, which gives them a peculiar twang- 
ing sound ; and a couple of reeds, mere canes 
pierced with holes, each provided with a mouthpiece 

151 



152 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

made of half an inch of flattened reed. Nothing 
is needed to add to the discord as all three are 
vigorously plied with cheek and palm. 

The principal actor has an appearance of studied 
weirdness as he gesticulates wildly and calls on God 
to protect him against the venom of his pets. Con- 
trary to the general custom of the country, he has 
let his black hair grow till it streams over his 
shoulders in matted locks. His garb is of the 
simplest, a dirty white shirt over drawers of similar 
hue completing his outfit. 

Selecting a convenient stone as a seat, note- 
book in hand, I make up my mind to see the thing 
through. The "music" having continued five or 
ten minutes with the desired result of attractino- a 
circle of passers-by, the actual performance is now 
to commence. On the ground in the centre lies a 
spare tambourine, and on one side are the two cloth- 
covered bottle-shaped baskets containing the snakes. 

The chief charmer now advances, commencing 
to step round the ring with occasional beats on his 
tambourine, rolling his eyes and looking demented. 
Presently, having reached a climax of rapid beating 
and pacing, he suddenly stops in the centre with an 
extra " bang ! " 

" Now, every man who believes in our lord 
Mohammed ben Aisa,* say with me a Fatihah." 

Each of the onlookers extending his palms side 
by side before his face, they repeat the prayer 
in a sing-song voice, and as it concludes with a 
loud "Ameen," the charmer gives an agonized cry, 
as though deeply wrought upon. " Ah Rijal el 

* For the history of this man and his snake-charming followers 
see "The Moors," p. 331. 



SNAKE-CHARMING 1 53 

Bldd" ("Oh Saints of the Town!"), he shouts, as 
he recommences his tambourining, this time even 
with increased vigour, beating the ground with his 
feet, and working his body up and down in a most 
extraordinary manner. The two others are also 
playing, and the noise is deafening. The chief 
figure appears to be raving mad ; his starting eyes, 
his lithe and supple figure, and his streaming hair, 
give him the air of one possessed. His face is a 
study, a combination of fierceness and madness, 
yet of good-nature. 

At last he sinks down exhausted, but after a 
moment rises and advances to the centre of the 
circle, picking up a tambourine. 

"Now, Sidi Aisa" — turning to one of the 
musicians, whom he motions to cease their din — 
" what do you think happens to the man who puts 
a coin in there ? Why, the holy saint, our lord 
Mohammed ben Aisa, puts a ring round him like 
that," drawing a ring round a stone on the ground. 
"Is it not so ?" 

" It is, Ameen," from Sidi Aisa. 

" And what happens to him in the day time ? " 

" He is in the hands of God, and his people 
too." 

" And in the night time ? " 

" He is in the hands of God, and his people 
too." 

" And when at home ? ' 

" He is in the hands of God, and his people 
too." 

" And when abroad ? " 

" He is in the hands of God, and his people 
too." 



154 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

At this a copper coin is thrown into the ring, 
and the charmer repHes, " Now he who is master of 
sea and land, my lord Abd el Kader el Jilani,* bless 
the giver of that coin ! Now, for the love of God 
and of His blessed prophet, I offer a prayer for 
that generous one." Here the operation of passing 
their hands down their faces is performed by all. 

'* Now, there's another," — as a coin falls — " and 
from a child, too ! God bless thee now, my son. 
May my lord Ben Aisa, my lord Abd es-Sldm, and 
my lord Abd el Kader, protect and keep thee ! " 

Then, as more coppers fall, similar blessings 
are invoked upon the donors, interspersed with 
catechisinof of the musicians with a view to making 
known the advantages to be reaped by giving 
something. At last, as nothing more seems to be 
forthcoming, the performance proper is proceeded 
with, and the charmer commences to dance on one 
leg, to a terrible din from the tambourines. Then 
he pauses, and summons a little boy from the 
audience, seating him in the midst, adjuring him 
to behave himself, to do as he is bid, and to have 
faith in " our lord Ben Aisa." Then, seating him- 
self behind the boy, he places his lips against his 
skull, and blows repeatedly, coming round to the 
front to look at the lad, to see if he is sufficiently 
affected, and returning to puff again. Finally he 
bites off a piece of the boy's cloak, and chews it. 
Now he wets his finger in his mouth, and after 
putting it into the dust makes lines across his legs 
and arms, all the time calling on his patron saint ; 
next holding the piece of cloth in his hands and 
walking round the ring for all to see it, 
* The surname of the Baghdad saint. 



SNAKE-CHARMING 155 

"Come hither," he says to a bystander; "search 
my mouth and sec If there be anything there/* 

The search is conducted as a farmer would 
examine a horse's mouth, with the result that it is 
declared empty. 

"Nov/ I call on the prophet to witness that 
there is no deception," as he once more rerstores the 
piece of cloth to his mouth, and pokes his fingers 
into his neck, drawing them now up his face. 

" Enough ! " 

The voices of the musicians, who have for the 
latter part of the time been giving forth a drawling 
chorus, cease, but the din of the tamh>ourines con- 
tinues, while the performer dances wildly, till he 
stops before the lad on the ground, and takes from 
his mouth first one date and then another, which 
the lad is told to eat, and does so, the on-lookers 
fully convinced that they were transformed from 
the rag. 

Now it is the turn of one of the musicians to 
come forward, his place being taken by the retiring 
performer, after he has made another collection in 
the manner already described. 

" He who believes in God and in the power 
of our lord Mohammed ben Aisa, say with me a 
Fdtihah," cries the new man, extending his palms 
turned upwards hjefore him to receive the blessings 
he asks, and then ?jrings one of the snake-baskets 
forward, plunging his hand into its sack-like mouth, 
and sharply drawing it out a time or two, as if 
afraid of being bitten. 

Finally he pulls the head of one of the reptiles 
through, and leaves it there, darting out its fangs, 
while he snatches up and wildly beats the tambourine 



156 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

by his side. He now seizes the snake by the neck, 
and pulls it right out, the people starting back as 
it coils round in the ring, or uncoils and makes 
a plunge towards someone. Now he pulls out 
another, and hangs it round his neck, saying, " I 
take refuge with the saint who was dead and is 
alive, with our lord Mohammed son of Aisa, and 
with the most holy Abd el Kader el Jilani, king of 
land and sea. Now, let every one who believes 
bear witness with me and say a Fatihah ! " 

" Say a Fatihah ! " echoes one of the still noisy 
musicians, by way of chorus. 

*' Now may our lord Abd el Kader see the man 
who makes a contribution with his eyes." 

Chorus : " With his eyes ! " 

" And may his heart fmd rest, and our lord 
Abd er- Rahman protect him ! " 

Chorus : " Protect him ! " 

" Now, I call you to witness, I bargain with our 
lord Abd el Kader for a forfeit ! " 

Chorus : ** For a forfeit ! " 

A copper is thrown into the ring, and as he 
picks it up and hands it to the musician, the per- 
former exclaims — 

"Take this, see, and at the last day may the 
giver of it see our lord Abd el Kdder before him ! " 

Chorus : " Before him ! " 

" May he ever be blessed, whether present or 
absent ! " 

Chorus : " Present or absent ! " 

" Who wishes to have a good conscience and a 
clean heart ? Oh, ye beloved of the Lord ! See, 
take from that dear one " (who has thrown down a 
copper). 



SNAKE-CHARMING 1 57 

The contributions now apparently sufficing for 
the present, the performance proceeds, but the 
crowd having edged a little too close, it is first 
necessary to increase the space in the centre by 
swinging one of the reptiles round by the tail, 
whereat all start back. 

" Ah ! you may well be afraid ! " exclaims the 
charmer. " Their fangs mean death, if you only 
knew it, but for the mercies of my lord, the son of 
Aisa." 

" Ameen ! " responds the chorus. 

Hereupon he proceeds to direct the head of the 
snake to his mouth, and caressingly invites it to 
enter. Darting from side to side, it finally makes a 
plunge down his throat, whereon the strangers 
shudder, and the habituh look with triumphant 
awe. Wildly he spins on one foot that all may see, 
still holding the creature by the neck with one hand, 
and by the tail with the other. At length, having 
allowed the greater part of its length to disappear 
in this uncanny manner, he proceeds to withdraw it, 
the head emerging with the sound of a cork from a 
bottle. The sight has not been pleasant, but the 
audience, transfixed, gives a sigh of relief as the 
tambourines strike up again, and the reed chimes in 
deafeningly. 

'* Who says they are harmless ? Who says their 
fangs are extracted ? " challenges the performer. 
" Look here ! " 

The seemingly angry snake has now fastened 
on his arm, and is permitted to draw blood, as 
though in reward for its recent treatment. 

" Is any incredulous here ? Shall I try it on 
thee?" 



158 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

The individual addressed, a poverty-stricken 
youth whose place was doubtless required for some 
more promising customer behind, flees in terror, as 
the gaping jaws approach him. One and another 
having been similarly dismissed from points of van- 
tage, and a redistribution of front seats effected, the 
incredulous are once more tauntingly addressed and 
challenged. This time the challenge is accepted by 
a foreigner, who hands in a chicken held by its 
wings. 

" So ? Blessed be God ! Its doom is sealed if 
it comes within reach of the snake. See here ! " 

All eagerly press forward, many rising to their 
feet, and it is difficult to see over their shoulders the 
next gruesome act. The reptile, held by the neck 
in the performer's right hand, is shown the chicken 
in the other, and annoyed by having it poked in its 
face, too frightened to perceive what is happening. 
In a moment the fangs are shot out, and a wound 
inflicted in the exposed part under the wing. Blood 
appears, and the bird is thrown down, being held in 
place by the performer's foot till in a few minutes 
its struggles cease. Then, picking the victim up, 
he holds it aloft by one wing to show its condition, 
and exultingly calls for a Fatihah. 

It is enough : my patience is exhausted, and I 
rise to make off with stiff knees, content at last with 
what I have seen and heard of the " charming " of 
snakes in Morocco. 



XIX 
IN A MOORISH CAFE 

" A little from a friend is much." 

Moorish Proverb. 

To the passer-by, least of all to the European, there 
is nothing in its external appearance to recommend 
old Hashmi's caft. From the street, indeed, it is 
hardly visible, for it lies within the threshold of a 
caravansarai or fandak, in which beasts are tethered, 
goods accumulated and travellers housed, and of 
which the general appearance is that of a neglected 
farm-yard. Round an open court a colonnade sup- 
ports the balcony by which rooms on the upper 
story are approached, a narrow staircase in the 
corner leading right up to the terraced roof. In 
the daytime the sole occupants of the rooms are 
women whose partners for the time being have 
securely locked them in before going to work. 

Beside the lofty archway forming the gate of 
this strange hostelry, is Hashmi's stall, at which 
green tea or a sweet, pea-soupy preparation of 
coffee may be had at all hours of the day, but the 
cafi proper, gloomy by daylight, lies through the 
door behind. Here, of an evening, the candles lit, 
his regular customers gather with tiny pipes, in- 
dulging in flowing talk. Each has before him his 
harmless glass, as he squats or reclines on the 

159 



i6o LIFE IN MOROCCO 

rush-matted floor. Nothing of importance occurs in 
the city but is within a little made known here with 
as much certainty as if the proprietor subscribed to an 
evening paper. Any man who has something fresh 
to tell, who can interest or amuse the company, 
and by his frequent visits give the house a name, is 
always welcome, and will rind a glass awaiting him 
whenever he chooses to come. 

Old Hashmi knows his business, and if the 
evening that I was there may be taken as a sample, 
he deserves success. That nio^ht he was in the 
best of humours. His house was full and trade 
brisk. Fattah, a negro, was keeping the house 
merry, so in view of coming demands, he brewed 
a fresh pot of real " Mekkan." The surroundings 
were grimy, and outside the rain came down in 
torrents : but that was a decided advantage, since 
it not only drove men indoors, but helped to keep 
them there. Mesaod, the one-eyed, had finished 
an elaborate tuning of his two-stringed banjo, his 
ginbri — a home-made instrument — and was pro- 
ceeding to arrive at a convenient pitch of voice 
for his sons:. With a strono' nasal accent he com- 
menced reciting the loves of Si Marzak and his 
fair Azizah : how he addressed her in the fondest 
of language, and how she replied by caresses. 
When he came to the chorus they all chimed in, 
for the most part to their own tune and time, as 
they rocked to and fro, some clapping, some beating 
their thighs, and all applauding at the end. 

The whole ballad would not bear translation — 
for English ears, — and the scanty portion which 
may be given has lost its rhythm and cadence by 
the change, for Arabic is very soft and beautiful 



IN A MOORISH CAFE i6i 

to those who understand it. The time has come 
when Azizah, having quarrelled with Si Marzak 
in a fit of perhaps too well-founded jealousy, 
desires to " make it up again," and thus addresses 
her beloved — 

" Oh, how I have followed thy attractiveness, 
And halted between give and take ! 
Oh, how I'd from evil have protected thee 
By my advice, hadst thou but heeded it I 
Yet to-day taste, O my master, 
Of the love that thou hast taught to me ! 

" Oh, how I have longed for the pleasure of thy visits, 
And poured out bitter tears for thee ; 
Until at last the sad truth dawned on me 
That of thy choice thou didst put me aside ! 
Yet to-day taste, O my master, 
Of the love that thou hast taught to me I 

" Thou wast sweeter than honey to mc, 
But thou hast become more bitter than gall. 
Is it thus thou beginnest the world .'' 
Beware lest thou make me thy foe ! 
Yet to-day taste, O my master. 
Of the love that thou hast taught to me ! 

" I have hitherto been but a name to thee, 
And thou took'st to thy bosom a snake, 
But to-day I perceive thou'st a fancy for me : 
O God, I will not be deceived ! 

Yes, to-day taste, O my master. 

Of the love that thou hast taught to me ! 

" Thou know'st my complaint and my only cure : 
Why, then, wilt thou heal me not .'' 
Thou canst do so to-day, O my master, 
And save me from all further woe. 
Yes, to-day taste, O my master, 
Of the love that thou hast taught to me ! " 

To which the hard-pressed swain replies — 

" Of a truth thine eyes have bewitched me, 
For Death itself is in fear of them : 
And thine eyebrows, like two logs of wood, 
Have battered me each in its turn. 
So if thou sayest die, I'll die ; 
And for God shall my sacrifice be : 

M 



1 62 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

" I have neither yet died nor abandoned hope, 
Though slumber at night I ne'er know. 
With the staff of deliverance still afar off, 
So that all the world knows of my woe. 
And if thou sayest die, I'll die, 
But for God shall my sacrifice be ! " 

While the singing was proceeding Said and 
Drees had been indulging in a game of draughts, 
and as it ceased their voices could be heard in 
eager play. "Call thyself a Mallem (master). 
There, thy father was bewitched by a hyena ; there, 
and there again ! " shouted Said, as he swept a 
first, a second and a third of his opponent's pieces 
from the board. 

But Drees was equal with him in another 
move. 

" So, verily, thou art my master ! Let us, then, 
praise God for thy wisdom : thou art like indeed 
unto him who verily shot the fox, but who killed 
his own cow^ with the second shot ! See, thus I 
teach thee to boast before thy betters : ha, I laugh 
at thee, I ride the donkey on thy head. I shave 
that beard of thine ! " he ejaculated, taking one 
piece after another from his adversary, as the result 
of an incautious move. The board had the appear- 
ance of a well-kicked footstool, and the '* men " — 
called " dogs " in Barbary — were more like baseless 
chess pawns. The play was as unlike that o 
Europeans as possible ; the moves from " room " tc 
" room " were of lightning swiftness, and accom 
panied by a running fire of slang ejaculations 
chiefly sarcastic, but, on the whole, enlivened with 
a vein of playful humour not to be Englishec 
politely. Just as the onlookers would become 
interested in the progress of one or the other 



IN A MOORISH CAFE 163 

a too rapid advance by either would result in an 
incomprehensible wholesale clearing of the board 
by his opponent's sleeve. Yet without a stop the 
pieces would be replaced in order, and a new game 
commenced, the vanquished too proud to acknow- 
ledge that he did not quite see how the victor had 
won. 

Then Fattah, whos^/orie was mimicry, attracted 
the attention of the company by a representation 
of a fat wazeer at prayers. Amid roars of laughter 
he succeeded in rising to his feet with the help of 
those beside him, who had still to lend occasional 
support, as his knees threatened to give way under 
his apparently ponderous carcase. Before and 
behind, his shirt was well stuffed with cushions, and 
the sides were not forgotten. His cheeks were 
puffed out to the utmost, and his eyes rolled 
superbly. At last the moment came for him to go 
on his knees, when he had to be let gently down by 
those near him, but his efforts to bow his head, now 
top-heavy with a couple of shirts for a turban, were 
most ludicrous, as he fell on one side in apparently 
vain endeavours. The spectators roared with 
laughter till the tears coursed down their cheeks; 
but that black and solemn face remained unmoved, 
and at the end of the prescribed motions the pseudo- 
great man apparently fell into slumber as heavy as 
himself, and snored in a style that a prize pig might 
have envied. 

" Afuk ! Afuk ! " the deafening bravos resounded, 
for Fattah had excelled himself, and was amply 
rewarded by the collection which followed. 

A tale was next demanded from a jovial man of 
Fez, who, nothing loth, began at once — 



1 64 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

*' Evening was falling as across the plain o 
Haha trudged a weary traveller. The cold wine 
whistled through his tattered garments. The path 
grew dim before his eyes. The stars came out one 
by one, but no star of hope shone for him. He 
was faint and hungry. His feet were sore. Hi; 
head ached. He shivered. 

" ' May God have pity on me ! ' he muttered. 

" God heard him. A few minutes later h( 
descried an earthly star — a solitary light was twink 
ling on the distant hillside. Thitherward he turnec 
his steps. 

" Hope rose within him. His step grew brisk 
The way seemed clear. Onward he pushed, 

** Presently he could make out the huts of '< 
village. 

"'Thank God!' he cried; but still he had m 
supper. 

"His empty stomach clamoured. His purs< 
was empty also. The fiendish dogs of the villag( 
yelped at him. He paused discomfited. H< 
called. 

" Widow Zaidah stood before her lieht. 

" 'Who's there V 

" ' A God-guest.' 

"'In God's name, then, welcome! Silence 
there, curs ! ' 

" Abd el Hakk approached. 

" ' God bless thee, my mother, and repay thee ; 
thousand-fold ! ' 

" But Zaidah herself was poor. Her property 
consisted only of a hut and some fowls. She se 
before him eggs — two, hard-boiled, — bread also 
He thanked God. He ate. 

" * Yes, God will repay,' she said. 

" Next day Abd el Hakk passed on to Marra 
kesh. There God blessed him. Years passed on 
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Abd el Hakl 



IN A MOORISH CAFE 165 

was rich. Meladi the lawyer disHked him. Said 
he to Widow Zdidah — 

" ' Abd el Hakk, whom once thou succouredst, 
is rich. The two eg^s were never yet paid for. 
Hadst thou not given them to him they would 
have become two chickens. These would each 
have laid hundreds. Those hundreds, when hatched, 
would have laid their thousands. In seven years, 
think to what amount Abd el Hakk is indebted to 
thee. Sue him.' 

"Widow Zdidah listened. What is more, she 
acted. Abd el Hakk failed to appear to rebut the 
claim. He was worth no more. 

'•'Why is the defendant not here.?' asked the 
judge. 

" ' My lord/ said his attorney, ' he is gone to 
sow boiled beans.' 

"'Boiled beans!' 

" ' Boiled beans, my lord.' 

'"Is he mad?' 

" ' He is very wise, my lord.' 

" ' Thou mockest' 

" ' My lord, if boiled eggs can be hatched, sure 
boiled beans will grow ! ' 

" ' Dismissed with costs ! ' 

"The tree that bends with every wind that 
blows will seldom stand upright." 

A round of applause greeted the clever tale, of 
which the speaker's gestures had told even more 
than his words. But the merriment of the com- 
pany only began there, for forthwith a babel of 
tongues was occupied in the discussion of all the 
points of the case, in imagining every impossible or 
humorous alternative, and laughter resounded on 
every side, as the glasses were quickly refilled with 
an innocent drink. 



XX 

THE MEDICINE-MAN 

" Wine is a key to all evil." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Under the glare of an African sun, its rays, how- 
ever, tempered by a fresh Atlantic breeze ; no roof 
to his consulting-room save the sky, no walls sur- 
rounding him to keep off idle starers like ourselves ; 
by the roadside sits a native doctor of repute. His 
costume is that of half the crowd around, outwardly 
consisting of a well-worn brown woollen cloak with 
a hood pulled over his head, from beneath the skirts 
of which protrude his muddy feet. By his side lies 
the basket containing his supplies and less delicate 
instruments ; the finer ones we see him draw from 
a capacious wallet of leather beneath his cloak. 

Though personally somewhat gaunt, he is never- 
theless a jolly-looking character, totally free from 
that would-be professional air assumed by some of 
our medical students to hide lack of experience ; for 
he, empiric though he be, has no idea of any of his 
own shortcomings, and greets us with an easy smile. 
He is seated on the ground, hugging his knees till 
his attention is drawn to us, when, observing our gaze 
at his lancets on the ground, he picks one up to 
show it. Both are of rude construction, merely 
pieces of flat steel filed to double-edged points, and 

i66 



THE MEDICINE-MAN 167 

protected by two flaps slightly bigger, in the one case 
of bone, in the other of brass. A loose rivet holding 
all together at one end completes the instrument. 
The brass one he says was made by a Jew in Fez 
out of an old clock ; the other by a Jew in Marra- 
kesh. For the purpose of making scratches for 
cupping he has a piece of flat steel about half an 
inch wide, sharpened across the end chisel-fashion. 
Then he has a piece of an old razor-blade tied to 
a stick with a string. That this is sharp he soon 
demonstrates by skilfully shaving an old man's head, 
after only damping the eighth of an inch stub with 
which it is covered. A stone and a bit of leather, 
supplemented by the calves of his legs, or his biceps, 
serve to keep the edges in condition. 

From a finger-shaped leather bag in his satchel 
he produces an antiquated pair of tooth extractors, 
a small pair of forceps for pulling out thorns, 
and a stiletto. The first-named article, he informs 
us, came from France to Tafildlt, his home, via 
Tlemcen ; it is of the design known as " Fox's 
claw," and he explains to us that the difference 
between the French and the English article is that 
the one has no spring to keep the jaws open, while 
the other has. A far more formidable instrument 
is the genuine native contrivance, a sort of exag- 
gerated corkscrew without a point. 

But here comes a patient to be treated. He 
troubles the doctor with no diagnosis, asking only 
to be bled. He is a youth of medium height, bronzed 
by the sun. Telling him to sit down and bare his 
right arm, the operator feels it well up and down, 
and then places the tips of the patient's fingers on 
the ground, bidding him not to move. Pouring out 



1 68 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

a little water into a metal dish, he washes the arm 
on the inside of the elbow, drying it with his cloak. 
Next he ties a piece of list round the upper arm as 
tightly as he can, and selecting one of the lancets, 
makes an incision into the vein which the washing 
has rendered visible. A bright stream issues, squirt- 
ing into the air some fifteen inches ; it is soon, how- 
ever, directed into a tin soup-plate holding fourteen 
ounces, as we ascertained by measurement. The 
operator washes and dries his lancet, wraps the two 
in a white rag, and puts them into a piece of cane 
which forms an excellent case. Meanwhile the plate 
has filled, and he turns his attention once more to 
the patient. One or two passers-by have stopped, 
like ourselves, to look on. 

" I knew a man," says one, ** who was being bled 
like that, and kept on saying, 'take a little more,' 
till he fell back dead in our arms." 

" Yes," chimes in another, " I have heard of such 
cases ; it is very dangerous." 

Although the patient is evidently growing very 
nervous, our surgical friend affects supreme indiffer- 
ence to all this tittle-tattle, and after a while 
removes the bandage, bending the forearm inward, 
with the effect of somewhat checking the flow of 
blood. When he has bound up with list the cane 
that holds the lancets, he closes the forearm back 
entirely, so that the flow is stopped. Opening it 
again a little, he wipes a sponge over the aperture 
a few times, and closes it with his thumb. Then he 
binds a bit of filthy rag round the arm, twisting it 
above and below the elbow alternately, and crossing 
over the incision each time. When this is done, he 
sends the patient to throw away the blood and wash 



THE MEDICINE-MAN 169 

the plate, receiving for the whole operation the sum 
of three half-pence. 

Another patient is waiting his turn, an old man 
desiring to be bled behind the ears for headache. 
After shaving two patches for the purpose, the 
" bleeder," as he is justly called, makes eighteen 
scratches close together, about half an inch long. 
Over these he places a brass cup of the shape of 
a high Italian hat without the brim. From near 
the edge of this protrudes a long brass tube with 
a piece of leather round and over the end. This 
the operator sucks to create a vacuum, the moistened 
leather closing like a valve, which leaves the cup 
hanging in situ. Repeating this on the other side, 
he empties the first cup of the blood which has by 
this time accumulated in it, and so on alternately, 
till he has drawn off what appears to him to be 
sufficient. All that remains to be done is to wipe 
the wounds and receive the fee. 

Some years ago such a worthy as this earned 
quite a reputation for exorcising devils in Southern 
Morocco. His mode of procedure was brief, but 
as a rule effective. The patient was laid on the 
ground before the wise man's tent, face downward, 
and after reading certain mystic and unintelligible 
passages, selected from one of the ponderous tomes 
which form a prominent part of the " doctor's " 
stock-in-trade, he solemnly ordered two or three 
men to hold the sufferer down while two more 
thrashed him till they were tired. If, when released, 
the patient showed the least sign of returning 
violence, or complained that the whole affair was 
a fraud, it was taken as a sure sign that he had 
not had enough, and he was forthwith seized again 



lyo LIFE IN MOROCCO 

and the dose repeated till he had learned that dis- 
cretion was the better part of valour, and slunk off, 
perhaps a wiser, certainly a sadder man. It is said, 
and I do not doubt it — though it is more than most 
medical men can say of their patients — that no one 
was ever known to return in quest of further treat- 
ment. 

All this, however, is nothing compared with the 
Moor's love of fire as a universal panacea. Not 
only for his mules and his horses, but also for him- 
self and his family, cauterization is in high repute, 
especially as he estimates the value of a remedy as 
much by its immediate and visible action as by its 
ultimate effects. The " fire-doctor " is therefore even 
a greater character in his way than the " bleeder," 
whom we have just visited. His outfit includes a 
collection of queer-shaped irons designed to cauterize 
different parts of the body, a portable brazier, and 
bellows made from a goat-skin with a piece of board 
at one side wherewith to press and expel the air 
through a tube on the other side. He, too, sits by 
the roadside, and disposes of his groaning though 
wonderfully enduring " patients " much as did his 
rival of the lancet. Rohlfs, a German doctor 
who explored parts of Morocco in the garb of a 
native, exercising what he could of his profession 
for a livelihood, tells how he earned a considerable 
reputation by the introduction of " cold fire " (lunar 
caustic) as a rival to the original style ; and Fellow, 
an English slave who made his escape in 1735, 
found cayenne pepper of great assistance in ingra- 
tiating himself with the Moors in this way, and even 
in delaying a pursuer suffering from ophthalmia 
by blowing a little into his eyes before his identity 



THE MEDICINE-MAN 171 

was discovered. In extenuation of this trick, 
however, it must be borne in mind that cayenne 
pepper is an accredited Moorish remedy for oph- 
thalmia, being placed on the eyelids, though it is 
only a mixture of canary seed and sugar that is 
blown in. 

Every European traveller in Morocco is supposed 
to know something about medicine, and many have 
been my own amusing experiences in this direction. 
Nothing that I used gave me greater fame than a 
bottle of oil of cantharides, the contents of which I 
applied freely behind the ears or upon the temples 
of such victims of ophthalmia as submitted them- 
selves to my tender mercies. Only I found that 
when my first patient began to dance with the joy 
and pain of the noble blister which shortly arose, 
so many people fancied they needed like treatment 
that I was obliged to restrict the use of so popular 
a cure to special cases. 

One branch of Moroccan medicine consists in 
exorcising devils, of which a most amusing instance 
once came under my notice. An English gentle- 
man gave one of his servants who complained 
of being troubled with these unwelcome guests two 
good-sized doses of tartaric acid and carbonate of 
soda a second apart. The immediate exit of the 
devil was so apparent that the fame of the prescriber 
as a medical man was made at once. But many of 
the cases which the amateur is called upon to treat 
are much more difficult to satisfy than this. Super- 
stition is so strongly mingled with the native ideas 
of disease, — of being possessed, — that the two can 
hardly be separated. During an epidemic of cholera, 
for instance, the people keep as close as possible to 



172 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

walls, and avoid sand-hills, for fear of " catching 
devils." All disease is indeed more or less ascribed 
to Satanic agency, and in Morocco that practitioner 
is most in repute who claims to attack this cause of 
the malady rather than its effect. 

Although the Moors have a certain rudimentary 
acquaintance with simple medicinal agents — and 
how rudimentary that acquaintance is, will better 
appear from what is to follow, — in all their pharma- 
copoeia no remedy is so often recommended or so 
implicitly relied on as the ** writing " of a man of 
reputed sanctity. Such a writing may consist merely 
of a piece of paper scribbled over with the name of 
God, or with some sentence from the Kordn, such 
as, "And only God is the Healer," repeated many 
times, or in special cases it may contain a whole 
series of pious expressions and meaningless incan- 
tations. For an ordinary external complaint, such 
as general debility arising from the evil eye of a 
neighbour or a jealous wife, or as a preventative 
against bewitchment, or as a love philtre, it is 
usually considered sufficient to wear this in a leather 
bag around the neck or forehead ; but in case of 
unfathomable internal disease, such as indigestion, 
the " writing " is prescribed to be divided into so 
many equal portions, and taken in a little water 
night and morning. 

The author of these potent documents is some- 
times a hereditary saint descended from Moham- 
med, sometimes a saint whose sanctity arises from 
real or assumed insanity — for to be mad in Barbary 
is to have one's thoughts so occupied with things of 
heaven as to have no time left for things of earth, 
— and often they are written by ordinary public 



THE MEDICINE-MAN 173 

scribes, or schoolmasters, for among the Moors 
reading and religion are almost synonymous terms. 
There are, however, a few professional gentlemen 
who dispense these writings among their drugs. 
Such alone of all their quacks aspire to the title of 
" doctor." Most of these spend their time wander- 
ing about the country from fair to fair, setting up 
their tents wherever there are patients to be found 
in sufficient numbers. 

Attired as natives, let us visit one. Arrived at 
the tent door, we salute the learned occupant with 
the prescribed " Salam 00 alaikum " ( " To you be 
peace "), to which, on noting our superior costumes, 
he replies with a volley of complimentary inquiries 
and welcomes. These we acknowledge with dignity, 
and with as sedate an air as possible. We leisurely 
seat ourselves on the ground in orthodox style, like 
tailors. As it would not be good form to mention 
our business at once, we defer professional consulta- 
tion till we have inquired successfully after his 
health, his travels, and the latest news at home and 
from abroad. In the course of conversation he gives 
us to understand that he is one of the Sultan's uncles, 
which is by no means impossible in a country where 
it has not been an unknown thing for an imperial 
father to lose count of his numerous progeny. 

Feeling at last that we have broken the ice, we 
turn the conversation to the subject of our supposed 
ailments. My own complaint is a general internal 
disorder resulting in occasional feverishness, griping 
pains, and loss of sleep. After asking a number 
of really sensible questions, such as would seem to 
place him above the ordinary rank of native prac- 
titioners, he gravely announces that he has " the 



174 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

very thing " in the form of a powder, which, from its 
high virtues, and the exceeding number of its in- 
gredients, some of them costly, is rather expensive. 
We remember the deference with which our cos- 
tumes were noted, and understand. But, after all, 
the price of a supply is announced to be only seven- 
pence halfpenny. The contents of some of the 
canisters he shows us include respectively, according 
to his account, from twenty to fifty drugs. For our 
own part, we strongly suspect that all are spices to 
be procured from any Moorish grocer. 

Together with the prescription I receive in- 
structions to drink the soup from a fat chicken in 
the morning, and to eat its flesh in the evening ; to 
eat hot bread and drink sweet tea, and to do as 
little work as possible, the powder to be taken daily 
for a fortnight in a little honey. Whatever else he 
may not know, it is evident that our doctor knows 
full well how to humour his patients. 

The next case is even more easy of treatment 
than mine, a '* writing " only being required. On a 
piece of very common paper two or three inches 
square, the doctor writes something of which the 
only legible part is the first line : "In the name of 
God, the Pitying, the Pitiful," followed, we sub- 
sequently learn, by repetitions of " Only God is the 
Healer." For this the patient is to get his wife to 
make a feit bag sewed with coloured silk, into which 
the charm is to be put, along with a little salt and a 
few parings of garlic, after which it is to be worn 
round his neck for ever. 

Sometimes, in wandering through Morocco, one 
comes across much more curious remedies than 
these, for the worthy we have just visited is but a 



THE MEDICINE-MAN 175 

commonplace type in this country. A medical 
friend once met a professional brother in the interior 
who had a truly original method of proving his skill. 
By pressing his finger on the side of his nose close 
to his eye, he could send a jet of liquid right into his 
interlocutor's face, a proceeding sufficient to satisfy 
all doubts as to his alleged marvellous powers. On 
examination it was found that he had a small orifice 
near the corner of the eye, through which the 
pressure forced the lachrymal fluid, pure tears, in 
fact. This is just an instance of the way in which 
any natural defect or peculiarity is made the most 
of by these wandering empirics, to impose on their 
ignorant and credulous victims. 

Even such of them as do give any variety of 
remedies are hardly more to be trusted. Whatever 
they give, their patients like big doses, and are 
not content without corresponding visible effects. 
Epsom salts, which are in great repute, are never 
given to a man in less quantities than two table- 
spoonfuls. On one occasion a poor woman came to 
me suffering from ague, and looking very dejected. 
I mixed this quantity of salts in a tumblerful of 
water, with a good dose of quinine, bidding her 
drink two-thirds of it, and give the remainder to 
her daughter, who evidently needed it as much as 
she did. Her share was soon disposed of with 
hardly more than a grimace, to the infinite enjoy- 
ment of a fat, black slave-girl who was standing by, 
and who knew from personal experience what a 
tumblerful meant. But to induce the child to take 
hers was quite another matter. " What ! not drink 
it ? " the mother cried, as she held the potion to her 
lips. " The devil take thee, thou cursed offspring of 



176 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

an abandoned woman ! May God burn thy ances- 
tors ! " But though the child, accustomed to such 
mild and motherly invectives, budged not, it had 
proved altogether too much for the jovial slave, 
who was by this time convulsed with laughter, and 
so, I may as well confess, was I. At last the 
woman's powers of persuasion were exhausted, and 
she drained the glass herself. 

When in Fez some years ago, a dog I had with 
me needed dosing, so I got three drops of croton 
oil on sugar made ready for him. Mine host, a 
man of fifty or more, came in meanwhile, and 
having ascertained the action of the drug from my 
servant, thought it might possibly do him good, and 
forthwith swallowed it. Of this the first intimation 
I had was from the agonizing screams of the old 
man, who loudly proclaimed that his last hour was 
come, and from the terrified wails of the females of 
his household, who thought so too. When I saw 
him he was rolling on the tiles of the courtyard, his 
heels in the air, bellowing frantically. I need 
hardly dilate upon the relief I felt when at last we 
succeeded in alleviating his pain, and knew that he 
was out of danger. 

Among the favourite remedies of Morocco, 
hyena's head powder ranks high as a purge, and 
the dried bones and flesh may often be seen in the 
native spice-shops, coated with dust as they hang. 
Some of the prescriptions given are too filthy to 
repeat, almost to be believed. As a specimen, by no 
means the worst, I may mention a recipe at one 
time in favour among the Jewesses of Mogador, 
according to one writer. This was to drink seven 
draughts from the town drain where it entered the 



THE MEDICINE-MAN 177 

sea, beaten up with seven eggs. For diseases of 
the " heart," by which they mean the stomach and 
liver, and of eyes, joints, etc., a stone, which is found 
in an animal called the horreh, the size of a small 
walnut, and valued as high as twelve dollars, is ground 
up and swallowed, the patient thereafter remaining 
indoors a week. Ants, prepared in various ways, are 
recommended for lethargy, and lion's flesh for 
cowardice. Privet or mallow leaves, fresh honey, 
and chameleons split open alive, are considered good 
for wounds and sores, while the fumes from the 
burning of the dried body of this animal are often 
inhaled. Among more ordinary remedies are sara- 
parilla, senna, and a number of other well-known 
herbs and roots, whose action is more or less under- 
stood. Roasted pomegranate rind in powder is 
found really effectual in dysentery and diarrhoea. 

Men and women continually apply for philtres, 
and women for means to prevent their husbands 
from liking rival wives, or for poison to put them 
out of the way. As arsenic, corrosive sublimate, 
and other poisons are sold freely to children in 
every spice-shop, the number of unaccounted-for 
deaths is extremely large, but inquiry is seldom 
or never made. When it is openly averred that So- 
and-so died from " a cup of tea," the only mental 
comment seems to be that she was very foolish 
not to be more careful what she drank, and to see 
that whoever prepared it took the first sip according 
to custom. The highest recommendation of any 
particular dish or spice is that it is *' heating." 
Great faith is also placed in certain sacred rocks, 
tree-stumps, etc., which are visited in the hope of 
obtaining relief from all sorts of ailments. Visitors 

N 



178 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

often leave rags torn from their garments by which to 
be remembered by the guardian of the place. Others 
repair to the famous sulphur springs of Zarhon, 
supposed to derive their benefit from the interment 
close by of a certain St. Jacob — and dance in 
the waters, yelling without intermission, " Cold and 
hot, O my lord Yakoob ! Cold and hot ! " fearful 
lest any cessation of the cry might permit the 
temperature to be increased or diminished beyond 
the bearable point. 



XXI 
THE HUMAN MART 

"Who digs a pit for his brother will fall into it." 

Moorish Proverb. 

The slave-market differs in no respect from any 
other in Morocco, save in the nature of the "goods" 
exposed. In most cases the same place is used for 
other things at other times, and the same auctioneers 
are employed to sell cattle. The buyers seat them- 
selves round an open courtyard, in the closed pens 
of which are the slaves for sale. These are brought 
out singly or in lots, inspected precisely as cattle 
would be, and expatiated upon in much the same 
manner. 

For instance, here comes a middle-aged man, 
led slowly round by the salesman, who is describing 
his " points " and noting bids. He has first-class 
muscles, although he is somewhat thin. He is 
made to lift a weight to prove his strength. His 
thighs are patted, and his lips are turned to show 
the gums, which at merrier moments would have 
been visible without such a performance. With a 
shame-faced, hang-dog air he trudges round, wonder- 
ing what will be his lot, though a sad one it is 
already. At last he is knocked down for so many 
score of dollars, and after a good deal of further 
bargaining he changes hands. 

179 



i8o LIFE IN MOROCCO 

The next broucrht forward are three little oirls — 
a "job lot," maybe ten, thirteen, and sixteen years 
of age — two of them evidently sisters. They are 
declared to be already proficient in Arabic, and 
ready for anything. Their muscles are felt, their 
mouths examined, and their bodies scrutinized in 
general, while the little one begins to cry, and the 
others look as though they would like to keep her 
company. Round and round again they are marched, 
but the bids do not rise high enough to effect a sale, 
and they are locked up again for a future occasion. 
It is indeed a sad, sad sight. 

The sources of supply for the slave-market are 
various, but the chief is direct from Guinea and the 
Sahara, where the raids of the traders are too well 
understood to need description. Usually some 
inter-tribal jealousy is fostered and fanned into a 
flame, and the one which loses is plundered of 
men and goods. Able-bodied lads and young girls 
are in most demand, and fetch high prices when 
brought to the north. The unfortunate prisoners 
are marched with great hardship and privation to 
depdts over the Atlas, where they pick up Arabic 
and are initiated into Mohammedanism. To a 
missionary who once asked one of the dealers how 
they found their way across the desert, the terribly 
significant reply was, *' There are many bones along 
the way ! " After a while the survivors are either 
exposed for sale in the markets of Marrakesh or Fez, 
or hawked round from door to door in the coast towns, 
where public auctions are prohibited. Some have 
even found their way to Egypt and Constantinople, 
having been transported in British vessels, and landed 
at Gibraltar as members of the dealer's family ! 



THE HUMAN MART i8i 

Another source of supply is the constant series 
of quarrels between the tribes of Morocco itself, 
during which many children are carried off who are 
white or nearly so. In this case the victims are 
almost all girls, for whom good prices are to be 
obtained. This opens a door for illegal supplies, 
children born of slaves and others kidnapped being 
thus disposed of for hareems. For this purpose 
the demand for white girls is much in excess of 
that for black, so that great temptation is offered. 
I knew a man who had seventeen such in his house, 
and of nearly a dozen whom I saw there, none were 
too dark to have passed for English brunettes. 

Though nothing whatever can be said in defence 
of this practice of tearing our fellow-men from their 
homes, and selling them as slaves, our natural feel- 
ings of horror abate considerably when we become 
acquainted with its results under the rule of Islam. 
Instead of the fearful state of things which occurred 
under English or American rule, it is a pleasure 
to find that, whatever may be the shortcomings of 
the Moors, in this case, at any rate, they have set 
us a good example. Even their barbarous treat- 
ment of Christian slaves till within a century was 
certainly no worse than our treatment of black slaves. 

To begin with, Mohammedans make no distinc- 
tion in civil or religious rights between a black skin 
and a white. So long as a man avows belief in no 
god but God, and in Mohammed as the prophet of 
God, complying with certain outward forms of his 
religion, he is held to be as good a Muslim as any- 
one else ; and as the whole social and civil fabrics 
are built upon religion and the teachings of the 
Koran, the social position of every well-behaved 



1 82 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Mohammedan is practically equal. The possession 
of authority of any kind will naturally command a 
certain amount of respectful attention, and he who 
has any reason for seeking a favour from another is 
sure to adopt a more subservient mien ; but beyond 
this, few such class distinctions are known as those 
common in Europe. The slave who, away from 
home, can behave as a gentleman, will be received 
as such, irrespective of his colour, and when freed 
he may aspire to any position under the Sultan. 
There are, indeed, many instances of black men 
having been ministers, governors, and even ambas- 
sadors to Europe, and such appointments are too 
common to excite astonishment. They have even, 
in the past, assisted in giving rise to the miscon- 
ception that the people of Morocco were *' Black-a- 
Moors." 

In many households the slave becomes the trusted 
steward of his owner, and receives a sufficient allow- 
ance to live in comfort. He will possess a paper 
giving him his freedom on his master's death, and 
altogether he will have a very good time of it. The 
liberation of slaves is enjoined upon those who 
follow Mohammed as a most praiseworthy act, and 
as one which cannot fail to bring its own reward. 
But, like too many in our own land, they more often 
prefer to make use of what they possess till they 
start on that journey on which they can take nothing 
with them, and then affect generosity by bestowing 
upon others that over which they lose control. 

One poor fellow whom I knew very well, who 
had been liberated on the death of his master, 
having lost his papers, was re-kidnapped and sold 
again to a man who was subsequently imprisoned for 



THE HUMAN MART 183 

fraud, when he got free and worked for some years 
as porter; but he was eventually denounced and 
put in irons in a dungeon as part of the property 
of his soi-disant master. 

The ordinary place of the slave is much that 
of the average servant, but receiving only board, 
lodging, and scanty clothing, without pay, and being 
unable to change masters. Sometimes, however, 
they are permitted to beg or work for money to 
buy their own freedom, when they become, as it 
were, their own masters. On the whole, a jollier, 
harder-working, or better-tempered lot than these 
Negroes it would be hard to desire, and they are as 
light-hearted, fortunately, as true-hearted, even in 
the midst of cruel adversities. 

The condition of a woman slave — to which, also, 
most of what has been said refers — is as much 
behind that of a man-slave as is that of a free- 
woman behind that of her lord. If she becomes 
her master's wife, the mother of a child, she is 
thereby freed, though she must remain in his service 
until his death, and she is only treated as an animal, 
not as a human being. 

After all, there is a dark side — one sufficiently 
dark to need no intensifying. The fact of one man 
being the possessor of another, just as much as he 
could be of a horse or cow, places him in the same 
position with regard to his " chattel " as to such a 
four-footed animal. " The merciful man is merci- 
ful to his beast," but " the tender mercies of the 
wicked are cruel," and just as one man will ill-treat 
his beast, while another treats his well, so will one 
man persecute his slave. Instances of this are 
quite common enough, and here and there cases 



1 84 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

could be brought forward of revolting brutality, as 
in the story which follows, but the great thing is 
that agricultural slavery is practically unknown, and 
that what exists is chiefly domestic. *' Know the 
slave," says an Arab proverb, " and you know the 
master." 




\_Freyonne, Photo., Gibraltar. 
RABBAH, NARRATOR OF THE SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY. 



XXII 
A SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY 

" After many adversities, joy." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Outside the walls of Mazagan an English traveller 
had pitched his camp. Night had fallen when one 
of his men, returning from the town, besought admis- 
sion to the tent. 

" Well, how now ? " 

" Sir, I have a woman here, by thy leave, yes, 
a woman, a slave, whom I found at the door of 
thy consulate, where she had taken refuge, but the 
police guard drove her away, so I brought her to 
thee for justice. Have pity on her, and God will 
reward thee ! See, here ! Rabhah ! " 

At this bidding there approached a truly pitiable 
object, a dark-skinned woman, not quite black, 
though of decidedly negroid appearance — whose 
tattered garments scarcely served to hide a half- 
starved form. Throwing herself on the ground 
before the foreigner, she begged his pity, his 
assistance, for the sake of the Pitiful God. 

*' Oh, Bashador," she pleaded, addressing him 
as though a foreign envoy, " I take refuge with 
God and with thee ! I have no one else. I have 
fled from my master, who has cruelly used me. See 
my back ! " 

I8S 



1 86 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Suiting action to word, she slipped aside the 
coverings from her shoulder and revealed the weals 
of many a stripe, tears streaming down her face the 
while. Her tones were such as none but a heart of 
stone could ignore. 

" I bore it ten days, sir, till I could do so no 
longer, and then I escaped. It was all to make me 
give false witness — from which God deliver me — 
for that I will never do. My present master is the 
Sheikh bin Zaharah, Lieutenant Kaid of the Boo 
Azeezi, but I was once the slave-wife of the English 
agent, who sold me again, though they said that he 
dare not, because of his English protection. That 
was why I fled for justice to the English consul, 
and now come to thee. For God's sake, succour 
me ! 

With a sob her head fell forward on her breast, 
as again she crouched at the foreigner's feet, till 
made to rise and told to relate her whole story 
quietly. When she was calmer, aided by questions, 
she unfolded a tale which could, alas ! be often 
paralleled in Morocco. 

"My home ? How can I tell thee where that 
was, when I was brought away so early ? All I 
know is that it was in the Suddn" (i.e. Land of 
the Blacks), "and that I came to Mogador on my 
mother's back. In my country the slave-dealers 
lie in wait outside the villages to catch the children 
when they play. They put them in bags like those 
used for grain, with their heads left outside the necks 
for air. So they are carried off, and travel all the 
way to this country slung on mules, being set down 
from time to time to be fed. But I, though born free, 
was brought by my mother, who had been carried 



A SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY 187 

off as a slave. The lines cut on my cheek show that, 
for every free-born child in our country is marked 
so by its mother. That is our sultan's order. 
In Mogador my mother's master sold me to a man 
who took me from her, and brought me to Ddr el 
Baida. They took away my mother first ; they 
dragged her off crying, and I never saw or heard 
of her again. When she was gone I cried for her, 
and could not eat till they gave me sugar and sweet 
dates. At Dar el Baida I was sold in the market 
auction to a shareefa named Lalla Moina, wife of 
the mountain scribe who taught the kadi's children. 
With her I was very happy, for she treated me 
well, and when she went to Mekka on the pilgrim- 
age she let me go out to work on my own account, 
promising to make me free if God brought her 
back safely. She was good to me, Bashador, but 
though she returned safely she always put off making 
me free ; but I had laid by fifteen dollars, and had 
bought a boxful of clothes as well. And that was 
where my trouble began. For God's sake succour 
me ! 

" One day the agent saw me in the street, and 
eyed me so that I was frightened of him. He 
followed me home, and then sent a letter offering to 
buy me, but my mistress refused. Then the agent 
often came to the house, and I had to wait upon 
him. He told me that he wanted to buy me, and 
that if he did I should be better off than if I were 
free, but I refused to listen. When the agent was 
away his man Sarghini used to come and try to 
buy me, but in vain ; and when the agent returned 
he threatened to bring my mistress into trouble if 
she refused. At last she had to yield, and I cried 



i88 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

when I had to go. * Thou art sold to that man/ 
she said ; ' but as thou art a daughter to me, he 
has promised to take care of thee and bring thee 
back whenever I wish.' 

" Sarghini took me out by one gate with the 
servants of the agent, who took care to go out with 
a big fat Jew by another, that the Enghsh consul 
should not see him go out with a woman. We 
rode on mules, and I wore a white cloak ; I had not 
then begun to fast " {i.e. was not yet twelve years 
of age). "After two days on the road the agent 
asked for the key of my box, in which he found my 
fifteen dollars, tied up in a rag, and took them, but 
gave me back my clothes. We were five days 
travelling to Marrakesh, staying each night with 
a kaid who treated us very well. So I came to 
the agent's house. 

" There I found many other slave girls, besides 
men slaves in the garden. These were Ruby, 
bought in Safifi, by whom the agent had a daughter ; 
and Star, a white girl stolen from her home in Stis, 
who had no children ; Jessamine the Less, another 
white eirl bought in Marrakesh, mother of one 
daughter ; Jessamine the Greater, whose daughter 
was her father's favourite, loaded with jewels ; and 
others who cooked or served, not having children, 
thousfh one had a son who died. There were 
thirteen of us under an older slave who clothed and 
fed us. 

" When the bashador came to the house the agent 
shut all but five or six of us in a room, the others 
waiting on him. I used to have to cook for the 
bashador, for whom they had great receptions with 
music and dancing-women. Next door there was a 



A SLAVE-GIRL'S STORY 189 

larger house, a fandak, where the agent kept public 
women and boys, and men at the door took money 
from the Muslims and Nazarenes who went there. 
The missionaries who lived close by know the truth 
of what I say, 

"A few days after I arrived I was bathed and 
dressed in fresh clothes, and taken to my master's 
room, as he used to call for one or another accord- 
ing to fancy. But I had no child, because he struck 
me, and I was sick. When one girl, named Amber, 
refused to go to him because she was ill, he dragged 
her off to another part of the house. Presently we 
heard the report of a pistol, and he came back to 
say she was dead. He had a pistol in his hand as 
long as my forearm. We found the girl in a pool 
of blood in agonies, and tried to flee, but had no- 
where to go. So when she was quite dead he made 
us wash her. Then he brought in four men to dig 
a pit, in which he said he would bury butter. When 
they had gone we buried her there, and I can show 
you the spot. 

*' One day he took two men slaves and me on a 
journey. One of them ran away, the other was sold 
by the way. I was sold at the Tuesday market of 
Sidi bin Ntir to a dealer in slaves, whom I heard 
promise my master to keep me close for three 
months, and not to sell me in that place lest the 
Nazarenes should get word of it. Some time after 
I was bought by a tax-collector, with whom I re- 
mained till he died, and then lived in the house of 
his son. This man sold me to my present master, 
who has ill-treated me as I told thee. Oh, Bashador, 
when I fled from him, I came to the English consul 
because I was told that the agent had had no right 



I90 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

to hold or sell me, since he had English protection. 
Thou knowest what has happened since. Here I 
am, at thy feet, imploring assistance. I beseech 
thee, turn me not away. I speak truth before 
God." 

No one could hear such a tale unmoved, and 
after due inquiry the Englishman thus appealed to 
secured her liberty on depositing at the British 
Consulate the $140 paid for her by her owner, who 
claimed her or the money. Rabhah's story, taken 
down by independent persons at different times, 
was afterwards told by her without variation in a 
British Court of Law. Subsequently a pronounce- 
ment as to her freedom having been made by the 
British Legation at Tangier, the $140 was refunded, 
and she lives free to-day. The last time the writer 
saw her, in the service of a European in Morocco, 
he was somewhat taken aback to find her arms 
about his neck, and to have kisses showered on his 
shoulders for the unimportant part that he had 
played in securing her freedom. 



XXIII 
THE PILGRIM CAMP 

" Work for the children is better than pilgrimage or holy war." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Year by year the month succeeding the fast of 
Ramaddn sees a motley assemblage of pilgrims 
bound for Mekka, gathered at most of the North 
African ports from all parts of Barbary and even 
beyond, awaiting vessels bound for Alexandria or 
Jedda, This comparatively easy means of covering 
the distance, which includes the whole length of the 
Mediterranean when the pilgrims from Morocco 
are concerned — not to mention some two-thirds of 
the Red Sea, — has almost entirely superseded the 
original method of travelling all the way by land, in 
the once imposing caravans. 

These historic institutions owed their importance 
no less to the facilities they offered for trade, than to 
the opportunity they afforded for accomplishing the 
pilgrimage which is enjoined on every follower of 
Mohammed. Although caravans still cross the 
deserts of North Africa in considerable force from 
west to east, as well as from south to north, to carry 
on the trade of the countries to the south of the 
Barbary States, the former are steadily dwindling 
down to mere local affairs, and the number of 
travellers who select the modern route by steamer 

191 



192 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

is yearly increasing, as its advantages become better 
known. For the accommodation of the large 
number of passengers special vessels are chartered 
by speculators, and are fitted up for the occasion. 
Only some ;^3 are charged for the whole journey 
from Tangier, a thousand pilgrims being crowded 
on a medium-sized merchant vessel, making the 
horrors of the voyage indescribable. 

But the troubles of the pilgrims do not begin 
here. Before they could even reach the sea some 
of them will have travelled on foot for a month 
from remote parts of the interior, and at the coast 
they may have to endure a wearisome time of wait- 
ing for a steamer. It is while they are thus learn- 
ing a lesson of patience at one of the Moorish ports 
th-at I will invite you for a stroll round their en- 
campment on the market-place. 

This consists of scores of low, makeshift tents, 
with here and there a better-class round one dotted 
amongst them. The prevailing shape of the 
majority is a modified edition of the dwelling of 
the nomad Arab, to which class doubtless belongs 
a fair proportion of their occupants. Across the 
top of two poles about five feet high, before and 
behind, a ridge-piece is placed, and over this is 
stretched to the ground on either side a long piece 
of palmetto or goat-hair cloth, or perhaps one of 
the long woollen blankets worn by men and women 
alike, called haiks, which will again be used for its 
original purpose on board the vessel. The back is 
formed of another piece of some sort of cloth 
stretched out at the bottom to form a semi-circle, 
and so give more room inside. Those who have a 
bit of rug or a light mattress, spread it on the floor. 



THE PILGRIM CAMP 193 

and pile their various other belongings around its 
edge. 

The straits to which many of these poor people 
are put to get a covering of any kind to shelter 
them from sun, rain, and wind, are often very 
severe, to judge from some of the specimens of 
tents — if they deserve the name — constructed of 
all sorts of odds and ends, almost anything, it 
would seem, that will cover a few square inches. 
There is one such to be seen on this busy market 
which deserves special attention as a remarkable 
example of this style of architecture. Let us ex- 
amine it. The materials of which it is composed 
include hair-cloth, woollen-cloth, a cotton shirt, a 
woollen cloak, and some sacking ; goat skin, sheep's 
fleece, straw, and palmetto cord ; rush mats, a pal- 
metto mat, split-cane baskets and wicker baskets; 
bits of wood, a piece of cork, bark and sticks ; 
petroleum tins flattened out, sheet iron, zinc, and 
jam and other tins ; an earthenware dish and a 
stone bottle, with bits of crockery, stones, and a 
cow's horn to weight some of the other items down. 
Now, if any one can make anything of this, which 
is an exact inventory of such of the materials as are 
visible on the outside, he must be a born archi- 
tect. Yet here this extraordinary construction 
stands, as it has stood for several months, and its 
occupant looks the jolliest fellow out. Let us pay 
him a visit. 

Stooping down to look under the flap which 
serves as a door, and raising it with my stick, I 
greet him with the customary salutation of ** Peace 
be with you." "With you be peace," is the cheery 
reply, to which is added, " Welcome to thee ; make 

o 



194 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

thyself at home." Although invited to enter, I feel 
quite enough at home on the outside of his dwelling, 
so reply that I have no time to stay, as I only 
" looked in " to have the pleasure of making his 
acquaintance and examining his "palace." At the 
last word one or two bystanders who have gathered 
round indulge in a little chuckle to themselves, 
overhearing which I turn round and make the most 
flattering remarks I can think of as to its beauty, 
elegance, comfort, and admirable system of ventila- 
tion, which sets the whole company, tenant in- 
cluded, into a roar of laughter. Mine host is busy 
cleaning fish, and now presses us to stay and share 
his evening meal with him, but our appetites are 
not quite equal to that yet, though it is beyond 
doubt that the morsel he would offer us would be 
as savoury and well cooked as could be supplied 
by any restaurant in Piccadilly. 

Inquiries elicit the fact that our friend is hoping 
to leave for Mekka by the first steamer, and that 
meanwhile he supports himself as a water-carrier, 
proudly showing us his goat-skin "bottle" lying on 
the floor, with the leather flap he wears between it 
and his side to protect him from the damp. Here, 
too, are his chain and bell, with the bright brass 
and tin cups. In fact, he is quite a "swell " in his 
way, and, in spite of his uncouth-looking surround- 
ings, manages to enjoy life by looking on the bright 
side of things. 

"What will you do with your palace when 
you leave it } " we ask, seeing that it could not 
be moved unless the whole were jumbled up in 
a sack, when it would be impossible to recon- 
struct it. 



THE PILGRIM CAMP 195 

" Oh, I'd let it to some one else." 

" For how much ? " 

"Well, that rd leave to God." 

A glance round the interior of this strange 
abode shows that there are still many materials 
employed in its construction which might have been 
enumerated. One or two bundles, a box and a 
basket round the sides, serve to support the roof, 
and from the ridge-pole hangs a bundle which we 
are informed contains semolina. I once saw such a 
bundle suspended from a beam in a village mosque 
in which I had passed the night in the guise of a 
pious Muslim, and, observing its dusty condition, 
inquired how it came there. 

"A traveller left it there about a year and a 
half ago, and has not yet come for it," was the 
reply; to judge from which it might remain till 
Doomsday — a fact which spoke well for the honesty 
of the country folk in that respect at least, 
although I learned that they were notorious high- 
waymen. 

Though the roof admits daylight every few 
inches, the occupier remarks that it keeps the sun 
and rain off fairly well, and seems to think none 
the worse of it for its transparent faults. A sick 
woman lying in a native hut with a thatched roof 
hardly in better condition than this one, remarked 
when a visitor observed a big hole just above her 
pallet bed — 

** Oh, it's so nice in the summer time ; it lets 
the breeze in so delightfully ! " 

It was then the depth of winter, and she had 
had to shift her position once or twice to avoid the 
rain which came through that hole. What a lesson 



196 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

in making the best of things did not that ignorant 
invalid teach ! 

Having bid the amiable water-carrier " a Dieu," 
— literally as well as figuratively — we turn towards 
a group of tents further up, whence a white-robed 
form has been beckoning us. After the usual salu- 
tations have been exchanged, the eager inquiry is 
made, "Is there a steamer yet ?" 

" No ; I've nothing to do with steamers — but 
there's sure to be one soon." 

A man who evidently disbelieves me calls out, 
" I've got my money for the passage, and I'll hire 
a place with you, only bring the ship quickly." 

Since their arrival in Tangier they have learnt 
to call a steamer, which they have never seen before, 
— or even the sea, — a " babor," a corruption of the 
Spanish " vapor," for Arabic knows neither " v " 
nor " p." 

Another now comes forward to know if there 
is an eye- doctor in the place, for there is a mist 
before his eyes, as he is well-advanced in the decline 
of life. The sound of the word ** doctor " brings up 
a few more of the bystanders, who ask if I am one, 
and as I reply in the negative, they ask who can 
cure their ears, legs, stomachs, and what not. I 
explain where they may find an excellent doctor, 
who will be glad to do all he can for them gratis — 
whereat they open their eyes incredulously, — and 
that for God's sake, in the name of Seyidna Aisa 
("Our Lord Jesus"), which they appreciate at once 
with murmurs of satisfaction, though they are not 
quite satisfied until they have ascertained by further 
questioning that he receives no support from his 
own or any other government. Hearing the name 



THE PILGRIM CAMP 197 

of Seyidna Aisa, one of the group breaks out into 
" El hamdu I'lllah, el hamdu I'lllah" (" Praise be to 
God"), a snatch of a missionary hymn to a '* Moody 
and Sankey" tune, barely recognizable as he renders 
it. He has only been here a fortnight, and disclaims 
all further knowledge of the hymn or where he 
heard it. 

Before another tent hard by sits a native barber, 
bleeding a youth from a vein in the arm, for which 
the fee is about five farthings. As one or two come 
round to look on, he remarks, in an off-hand way— 
probably with a view to increasing his practice — 
that " all the pilgrims are having this done ; it's 
good for the internals." 

As we turn round to pass between two of the 
tents to the row beyond, our progress is stayed by 
a cord from the ridge of one to that of another, on 
which are strung strips of what appear at first 
sight to be leather, but on a closer inspection are 
found to be pieces of meat, tripe, and apparently 
chitterlings, hung out to dry in a sun temperature 
of from 90° to 100° Fahrenheit. Thus is prepared 
a staple article of diet for winter consumption when 
fresh meat is dear, or for use on journeys, and this 
is all the meat these pilgrims will taste till they 
reach Mekka, or perhaps till they return. Big jars 
of it, with the interstices filled up with butter, are 
stowed away in the tents " among the stuff." It is 
called " khalia," and is much esteemed for its tasty 
and reputed aphrodisiac qualities — two ideals in 
Morocco cookery, — so that it commands a relatively 
good price in the market. 

The inmates of the next tent we look into are a 
woman and two men, lying down curled up asleep 



198 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

in their blankets, while a couple more of the latter 
squat at the door. Having noticed our curious 
glances at their khalia, they, with the expressive 
motion of the closed fist which in native oresture- 
parlance signifies first-rate, endeavour to impress us 
with a sense of its excellence, which we do not feel 
inclined to dispute after all we have eaten on former 
occasions. This brings us to inquire what else 
these wanderers provide for the journey of thirteen 
or fourteen days one way. As bread is not to be 
obtained on board, at the door of the tent a tray-full 
of pieces are being converted into sun-dried rusks. 
Others are provided with a kind of very hard dough- 
nut called ** fikaks." These are flavoured with anise 
and carraway seeds, and are very acceptable to a 
hungry traveller when bread is scarce, though fear- 
fully searching to hollow teeth. 

Then there is a goodly supply of the national 
food, kesk'soo or siksoo, better known by its 
Spanish name of couscoussoo. This forms an 
appetizing and lordly dish, provocative of abun- 
dant eructations — a sign of good breeding in these 
parts, wound up with a long-drawn " Praise be to 
God " — at the close of a regular " tuck in " with 
Nature's spoon, the fist. A similar preparation is 
hand-rolled vermicelli, cooked in broth or milk, if 
obtainable. A bag of semolina and another of zum- 
meetah — parched flour — which only needs enough 
moisture to form it into a paste to prepare it for 
consumption, are two other well-patronized items. 

A quaint story comes to mind apropos of the 
latter, which formed part of our stock of provisions 
during a journey through the province of Dukkala 
when the incident in question occurred. A tin of 



THE PILGRIM CAMP 199 

insect powder was also among our goods, and 
by an odd coincidence both were relegated to 
the pail hanging from one of our packs. Under a 
spreading fig-tree near the village of Smeerah, at 
lunch, some travelling companions offered us a cup 
of tea, and among other dainties placed at their 
disposal in return was the bag of zummeetah, of 
which one of them made a good meal. Later on 
in the day, as we rested again, he complained of 
fearful internal gripings, which were easily explained 
by the discovery of the fact that the lid of the " flea's 
zummeetah," as one of our men styled it, had been 
left open, and a hole in the sack of "man's zum- 
meetah " had allowed the two to mix in the bottom 
of the pail in nearly equal proportions. When this 
had been explained, no one entered more heartily 
into the joke than its victim, which spoke very well 
for his good temper, considering how seriously he 
had been affected. 

But this is rather a digression from our cata- 
logue of the pilgrim's stock of provisions. Rancid 
butter melted down in pots, honey, dates, figs, 
raisins, and one or two similar items form the re- 
mainder. Water is carried in goat-skins or in pots 
made of the dried rind of a gourd, by far the most 
convenient for a journey, owing to their light weight 
and the absence of the prevailing taste of pitch 
imparted by the leather contrivances. Several of 
these latter are to be seen before the tents hanging 
on tripods. One of the Moors informs us that for 
the first day on board they have to provide their 
own water, after which it is found for them, but 
everything else they take with them. An ebony- 
hued son of Ham, seated by a neighbouring tent, 



200 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

replies to our query as to what he is providing, 
" I take nothing," pointing heavenward to indicate 
his rehance on Divine providence. 

And so they travel. The group before us has 
come from the Sahara, a month's long journey 
overland, on foot ! Yet their travels have only 
commenced. Can they have realized what it all 
means ? 



XXIV 
RETURNING HOME 

" He lengthened absence, and returned unwelcomed." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Evening is about to fall — for fall it does in these 
south latitudes, with hardly any twilight — and the 
setting sun has lit the sky with a refulgent glow 
that must be gazed at to be understood — the arc of 
heaven overspread with glorious colour, in its turn 
reflected by the heaving sea. One sound alone is 
heard as I wend my way along the sandy shore ; it 
is the heavy thud and aftersplash of each gigantic 
wave, as it breaks on the beach, and hurls itself on 
its retreating predecessor, each climbing one step 
higher than the last. 

There, in the distance, stands a motley group — 
men, women, children — straining wearied eyes to 
recognize the forms which crowd a cargo lighter 
slowly nearing land. Away in the direction of 
their looks I dimly see the outline of the pilgrim 
ship, a Cardiff coaler, which has brought close on a 
thousand Hajes from Port Said or Alexandria — men 
chiefly, but among them wives and children — who 
have paid that toilsome pilgrimage to Mekka. 

The last rays of the sun alone remain as the 
boat strikes the shore, and as the darkness falls 
apace a score of dusky forms make a wild rush into 



202 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

the surging waters, while an equal number rise up 
eager in the boat to greet their friends. So soon 
as they are near enough to be distinguished one 
from another, each watcher on the beach shouts the 
name of the friend he is awaiting, proud to affix, for 
the first time, the title Haj — Pilgrim — to his name. 
As only some twenty or thirty have yet landed 
from among so many hundreds, the number of dis- 
appointed ones who have to turn back and bide 
their time is proportionately large. 

" Haj Mohammed ! Haj Abd es-Sldm ! Hdj 
el Arbi ! Hdj boo Shdib ! Ah, Hdj Drees ! " and 
many such ejaculations burst from their lips, together 
with inquiries as to whether So-and-so may be on 
board. One by one the weary travellers once more 
step upon the land which is their home, and with 
assistance from their friends unload their luggage. 

Now a touching scene ensues. Strong men fall 
on one another's necks like girls, kissing and em- 
bracing with true joy, each uttering a perfect volley 
of inquiries, compliments, congratulations, or con- 
dolence. Then, with child-like simplicity, the stayer- 
at-home leads his welcome relative or friend by the 
hand to the spot where his luggage has been 
deposited, and seating themselves thereon they 
soon get deep into a conversation which renders 
them oblivious to all around, as the one relates the 
wonders of his journeyings, the other the news of 
home. 

Poor creatures ! Some months ago they started, 
full of hope, on an especially trying voyage of 
several weeks, cramped more closely than emigrants, 
exposed both to sun and rain, with hardly a change 
of clothing, and only the food they had brought with 



RETURNING HOME 203 

them. Arrived at their destination, a weary march 
across country began, and was repeated after they 
had visited the various points, and performed the 
various rites prescribed by the Koran or custom, 
finally returning as they went, but not all, as the 
sorrow-stricken faces of some among the waiters 
on the beach had told, and the muttered exclamation, 
" It is written — Mektood." 

Meanwhile the night has come. The Creator's 
loving Hand has caused a myriad stars to shine 
forth from the darkness, in some measure to 
replace the light of day, while as each new boat- 
load is set down the same scenes are enacted, and 
the crowd grows greater and greater, the din of 
voices keeping pace therewith. 

Donkey-men having appeared on the scene with 
their patient beasts, they clamour for employment, 
and those who can afford it avail themselves of their 
services to get their goods transported to the city. 
What goods they are, too ! All sorts of products 
of the East done up in boxes of the most varied 
forms and colours, bundles, rolls, and bales. The 
owners are apparently mere bundles of rags them- 
selves, but they seem no less happy for that. 

Seated on an eminence at one side are several 
customs officers who have been delegated to in- 
spect these goods ; their flowing garments and 
generally superior attire afford a striking con- 
trast to the state of the returning pilgrims, or even 
to that of the friends come to meet them. These 
officials have their guards marching up and down 
between and round about the groups, to see that 
nothing is carried off without inspection. 

Little by little the crowd disperses ; those whose 



204 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

friends have landed escort them to their homes, 
leaving those who will have to continue theii 
journey overland alone, making hasty preparations 
for their evening meal. The better class speedily 
have tents erected, but the majority will have to 
spend the night in the open air, probably in the 
rain, for it is beginning to spatter already. Fires 
are lit in all directions, throwing a lurid light upon 
the interesting picture, and I turn my horse's head 
towards home with a feeling of sadness, but at the 
same time one of thankfulness that my lot was not 
cast where theirs is. 



PART II 

XXV 
DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 

" The Beheaded was abusing the Flayed : 
One v/ith her throat cut passed by, and exclaimed, 
' God deliver us from such folk ! ' " 

Moorish Proverb. 

Instead of residing at the Court of the Sultan, as 
might be expected, the ministers accredited to the 
ruler of Morocco take up their abode in Tangier, 
where they are more in touch with Europe, and 
where there is greater freedom for pig-sticking. 
The reason for this is that the Court is not per- 
manently settled anywhere, wintering successively 
at one of the three capitals, Fez, Marrakesh, or 
Mequinez. Every few years, when anything of 
note arises ; when there is an accumulation of 
matters to be discussed with the Emperor, or when 
a new representative has been appointed, an embassy 
to Court is undertaken, usually in spring or autumn, 
the best times to travel in this roadless land. 

What happens on these embassies has often 
enough been related from the point of view of the 
performers, but seldom from that of residents in the 
country who know what happens, and the following 
peep behind the scenes, though fortunately not 
typical of all, is not exaggerated. Even more might 
have been told under some heads. As strictly 

205 



2o6 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

applicable to no Power at present represented in 
Morocco, the record is that of an imaginary embass); 
from Greece some sixty or more years ago. Tc 
prevent misconception, it may be as well to add 
that it was written previous to the failure of the 
mission of Sir Charles Euan Smith. 

I. The Reception 

In a sloop-of-war sent all the way from the 
^gean, the Ambassador and his suite sailed from 
Tangier to Saffi, where His Excellency was received 
on landing by a Royal salute from the crumbling 
batteries. The local governor and the Greek vice- 
consul awaited him on leaving the surf boat, with 
an escort which sadly upset the operations of women 
washing wool by the water-port. Outside the land- 
gate, beside the ancient palace, was pitched £ 
Moorish camp awaiting his arrival, and European 
additions were soon erected beside it. At day- 
break next morning a luncheon-party rode forward, 
whose duty it was to prepare the midday meal foi 
the embassy, and to pitch the awning under which 
they should partake of it. 

Arrived at the spot selected, Drees, the " native 
agent," found the village sheikh awaiting him with 
ample supplies, enough for every one for a couple oi 
days. This he carefully packed on his mules, and 
by the time the embassy came up, having started 
some time later than he, after a good breakfast, he 
was ready to go on again with the remainder of the 
muleteers and the camel-drivers to prepare the 
evening meal and pitch for the night a camp over 
which waved the flag of Greece. 

Here the offerings of provisions or money were 



DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 207 

made with equal profusion. There were bushels of 
kesk'soo ; there were several live sheep, which were 
speedily despatched and put into pots to cook ; 
there were jars of honey, of oil, and of butter; 
there were camel-loads of barley for the beasts of 
burden, and trusses of hay for their dessert ; there 
were packets of candles by the dozen, and loaves of 
sugar and pounds of tea ; not to speak of fowls, 
of charcoal, of sweet herbs, of fruits, and of minor 
odds and ends. 

By the time the Europeans arrived, their French 
chef had prepared an excellent dinner, the native 
escort and servants squatting in groups round 
steaming dishes provided ready cooked by half- 
starved villagers. When the feasting was over, and 
all seemed quiet, a busy scene was in reality being 
enacted in the background. At a little distance 
from the camp, Haj Marti, the right-hand man of 
the agent, was holding a veritable market with the 
surplus mona of the day, re-selling to the miserable 
country folk what had been wrung from them by the 
authorities. The Moorish Government declared 
that what they paid thus in kind would be deducted 
from their taxes, and this was what the Minister 
assured his questioning wife, for though he knew 
better, he found it best to wink at the proceedings 
of his unpaid henchman. 

As they proceeded inland, on the border of each 
local jurisdiction the escort was changed with an 
exhibition of "powder-play," the old one retiring as 
the new one advanced with the governor at its 
head. Thus they journeyed for about a week, till 
they reached the crumbling walls of palm-begirt 
Marrakesh. 



2o8 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

The official personnel of the embassy consiste( 
of the Minister and his secretary Nikolaki Glymeno 
poulos, with Ayush ben Lezra, the interpreter. Thi 
secretary was a self-confident dandy with a hea( 
like a pumpkin and a scrawl like the footprint 
of a wandering hen ; reputed a judge of ladies an( 
horse-flesh ; supercilious, condescending to inferiors 
and the plague of his tailor. The consul, Paol( 
Komnenos, a man of middle age with a kindly heart 
yet without force of character to withstand the evil 
around him, had been left in Tangier as Charg 
d' Affaires^ to the great satisfaction of his wife anc 
family, who considered themselves of the cre7ne d 
la crtme of Tangier society, such as it was, because 
however much the wife of the Minister despisec 
the bumptiousness of Madame Komnenos, sh< 
could not omit her from her invitations, unless o 
the most private nature, on account of her husband' i 
official position. Now, as Madame Mavrogordatc 
accompanied her husband with her little son anc 
a lady friend, the consul's wife reigned supreme. 

Then there were the official attachh for the 
occasion, the representative of the army, a colone 
of Roman nose, and eyes which required but one 
glass between them, a man to whom death would 
have been preferable to going one morning unshaved, 
or to failing one jot in military etiquette ; and the 
representative of the navy, in cocked hat and gold- 
striped pantaloons, who found it more difficult to 
avoid tripping over his sword than most lands- 
men do to keep from stumbling over coils of rope 
on ship-board ; beyond his costume there was little 
of note about him ; his genial character made it 
easy to say "Ay, ay," to any one, but the yarns he 



DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 209 

could spin round the camp-fire made him a general 
favourite. The least consequential of the party was 
the doctor, an army man of honest parts, who wished 
well to all the world. Undoubtedly he was the 
hardest worked of the lot, for no one else did any- 
thing but enjoy himself. 

Finally there were the "officious" attacMs. 
Every dabbler in politics abroad knows the fine 
distinctions between "official" and "officious" action, 
and how subtle are the changes which can be rung 
upon the two, but there was nothing of that descrip- 
tion here. The officious attaches were simply a 
party of the Minister's personal friends, and two or 
three strangers whose influence might in after times 
be useful to him. One was of course a journalist, 
to supply the special correspondence of the Acropolis 
and the Hellenike Salpinx. These would afterwards 
be worked up into a handy illustrated volume of 
experiences and impressions calculated to further 
deceive the public with regard to Morocco and the 
Moors, and to secure for the Minister his patron, 
the longed-for promotion to a European Court. 
Another was necessarily the artist of the party, 
while the remainder engaged in sport of one kind 
or another. 

Si Drees, the "native agent," was employed as 
master of horse, and superintended the native 
arrangements generally. With him rested every 
detail of camping out, and the supply of food and 
labour. Right and left he was the indispensable 
factotum, shouting himself hoarse from before dawn 
till after sunset, when he joined the gay blades of 
the Embassy in private pulls at forbidden liquors. 
No one worked as hard as he, and he seemed 



2IO LIFE IN MOROCCO 

omnipresent. The foreigners were justly thankful to 
have such a man, for without him all felt at sea. 
He appeared to know everything and to be available 
for every one's assistance. The only draw-back was 
his ignorance of Greek, or of any language but his 
own, yet being sharp-witted he made himself 
wonderfully understood by signs and a few words 
of the strange coast jargon, a mixture of half a 
dozen tongues. 

The early morning was fixed for the solemn 
entry of the Embassy into the city, yet the road 
had to be lined on both sides with soldiers to keep 
back the thronging crowds. Amid the din of multi- 
tudes, the clashing of barbarous music, and shrill 
ululations of delight from native women ; surrounded 
by an eastern blaze of sun and blended colours, 
rode incongruous the Envoy from Greece. His stiff, 
grim figure, the embodiment of officialism, in full 
Court dress, was supported on either hand by his 
secretary and interpreter, almost as resplendent as 
himself. Behind His Excellency rode the attachh 
and other ofiicials, then the ladies ; newspaper cor- 
respondents, artists, and other non-official guests, 
bringing up the rear. In this order the party 
crossed the red-flowing Tansift by its low bridge 
of many arches, and drew near to the gate of 
Marrakesh called that of the Thursday [market], 
Bdb el Khamees. 

At last they commenced to thread the narrow 
winding streets, their bordering roofs close packed 
with shrouded figures only showing an eye, who 
greeted them after their fashion with a piercing, 
long-drawn, " Yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo ; yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo ; 
yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo — oo," so novel to the strangers, 




{_MoIiiiari, Photo., Tangier. 
A CITY GATEWAY IN MOROCCO. 



DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 211 

and so typical. Then they crossed the wide-open 
space before the KCitdbiyah on their way to the 
garden which had been prepared for them, the 
MamCiniyah, with its handsome residence and shady 
walks. 

Three days had to elapse from the time of their 
arrival before they could see the Sultan, for they 
were now under native etiquette, but they had much 
to occupy them, much to see and think about, 
though supposed to remain at home and rest till the 
audience. On the morning- of the fourth day all was 
bustle. Each had to array himself in such official 
garb as he could muster, with every decoration he 
could borrow, for the imposing ceremony of the 
presentation to the Emperor. What a business it 
was ! what a coming and going ; what noise and 
what excitement ! It was like living in the thick of 
a whirling pantomime. 

At length they were under way, and making 
towards the kasbah gate in a style surpassing that 
of their entry, the populace still more excited at the 
sight of the gold lace and cocked hats which showed 
what great men had come to pay their homage to 
their lord the Sultan. On arrival at the inmost 
courtyard with whitewashed, battlemented walls, 
and green-tiled roofs beyond, they found it thickly 
lined with soldiers, a clear space being left for them 
in the centre. Here they were all ranged on foot, 
the presents from King Otho placed on one side, 
and covered with rich silk cloths. Presently a blast 
of trumpets silenced the hum of voices, and the 
soldiers made a show of " attention " in their un- 
drilled way, for the Sultan approached. 

In a moment the great doors on the other side 



212 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

flew open, and a number of gaily dressed natives in 
peaked red caps — the Royal body-guard — emerged, 
followed by five prancing steeds, magnificent barbs 
of different colours, richly caparisoned, led by gold- 
worked bridles. Then came the Master of the 
Ceremonies in his flowing robes and monster turban, 
a giant in becoming dress, and — as they soon dis- 
covered — of stentorian voice. Behind him rode the 
Emperor himself in stately majesty, clothed in pure 
white, wool-white, distinct amid the mass of colours 
worn by those surrounding him, his ministers. The 
gorgeous trappings of his white steed glittered as 
the proud beast arched his neck and champed his 
gilded bit, or tried in vain to prance. Over his head 
was held by a slave at his side the only sign of 
Royalty, a huge red-silk umbrella with a fringe to 
match, and a golden knob on the point, while others 
of the household servants flicked the flies away, or 
held the spurs, the cushion, the carpet, and other 
things which might be called for by their lord. 

On his appearance deafening shouts broke forth, 
" God bless our Lord, and give him victory ! " The 
rows of soldiers bowed their heads and repeated the 
cry with still an increase of vigour, " God bless our 
Lord, and give him victory ! " At a motion from 
the Master of the Ceremonies the members of the 
Embassy took off" their hats or helmets, and the 
representative of modern Greece stood there bare- 
headed in a broiling sun before the figure-head of 
ancient Barbary. As the Sultan approached the 
place where he stood, he drew near and offered a 
few stereotyped words in explanation of his errand, 
learned by heart, to which the Emperor replied by 
bidding him welcome. The Minister then handed 



DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 213 

to him an engrossed address in a silk embroided 
case, which an attendant was motioned to take, the 
Sultan acknowledging it graciously. One by one 
the Minister next introduced the members of his 
suite, their names and qualities being shouted in 
awful tones by the Master of the Ceremonies, and 
after once more bidding them welcome, but with a 
scowl at the sight of Drees, His Majesty turned his 
horse's head, leaving them to re-mount as their steeds 
were brought to them. Again the music struck up 
with a deafening din, and the state reception was 
over. 

But this was not to be the only interview between 
the Ambassador and the Sultan, for several so- 
called private conferences followed, at which an 
attendant or two and the interpreter Ayush were 
present. Kyrios Mavrogordato's stock of polite 
workable Arabic had been exhausted at the public 
function, and for business matters he had to rely 
implicitly on the services of his handy Jew. Such 
other notions of the language as he boasted could 
only be addressed to inferiors, and that but to 
convey the most simple of crude instructions or 
curses. 

At the first private audience there were many 
matters of importance to be brought before the 
Sultan's notice, afterwards to be relegated to the 
consideration of his wazeers. This time no fuss 
was made, and the affair again came off in the early 
morning, for His Majesty rose at three, and after 
devotions and study transacted official business from 
five to nine, then breakfasting and reserving the 
rest of the day for recreation and further religious 
study. 



214 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

II. The Interview 

At the appointed time an escort waited on the 
Ambassador * to convey him to the palace, arrived 
at which he was led into one of the many gardens 
in the interior, full of luxuriant semi-wild vegetation. 
In a room opening on to one side of the garden 
sat the Emperor, tailor-fashion, on a European sofa, 
elevated by a sort of dais opposite the door. With 
the exception of an armchair on the lower level, 
to which the Ambassador was motioned after the 
usual formal obeisances and expressions of respect, 
the chamber was absolutely bare of furniture, though 
not lacking in beauty of decoration. The floor was 
of plain cut but elegant tiles, and the dado was a 
more intricate pattern of the same in shades of 
blue, green, and yellow, interspersed with black, but 
relieved by an abundance of greeny white. Above 
this, to the stalactite cornice, the walls were decorated 
with intricate Mauresque designs in carved white 
plaster, while the rich stalactite roofing of deep-red 
tone, just tipped with purple and gilt, made a perfect 
whole, and gave a feeling of repose to the design. 
Through the huge open horse-shoe arch of the 
door the light streamed between the branches of 
graceful creepers waving in the breeze, adding to 
the impression of coolness caused by the bubbling 
fountain outside. 

" May God bless our Lord, and prolong his 
days ! " said Ayush, bowing profoundly towards the 
Sultan, as the Minister concluded the repetition 
of his stock phrases, and seated himself. 

** May it please Your Majesty," began the 

* Strictly speaking, only " Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy 
Extraordinary." 



DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 215 

Minister, in Greek, " I cannot express the honour 
I feel in again being commissioned to approach 
Your Majesty in the capacity of Ambassador from 
my Sovereign, King Otho of Greece." 

This Httle speech was rendered into Arabic by 
Ayush to this effect — 

" May God pour blessings on our Lord. The 
Ambassador rejoices greatly, and is honoured above 
measure in being sent once more by his king to 
approach the presence of our Lord, the high and 
mighty Sovereign : yes, my Lord." 

"He is welcome," answered the Sultan, gra- 
ciously ; " we love no nation better than the Greeks. 
They have always been our friends." 

Interpreter. " His Majesty is delighted to see 
Your Excellency, whom he loves from his heart, 
as also your mighty nation, than which none is 
more dear to him, and whose friendship he is ready 
to maintain at any cost." 

Minister. *' It pleases me greatly to hear Your 
Majesty's noble sentiments, which I, and I am sure 
my Government, reciprocate." 

Interpreter. "The Minister is highly compli- 
mented by the gracious words of our Lord, and 
declares that the Greeks love no other nation on 
earth beside the Moors : yes, my Lord." 

Sultan. " Is there anything I can do for such 
good friends ? " 

Interpreter. " His Majesty says he is ready 
to do anything for so good a friend as Your 
Excellency." 

Minister. " I am deeply grateful to His 
Majesty. Yes, there are one or two matters which 
my Government would like to have settled." 



2i6 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Interpreter. ** The Minister is simply over- 
whelmed at the thought of the consideration of 
our Lord, and he has some trifling matters for 
which perhaps he may beg our Lord's attention : 
yes, my Lord." 

Su/tan. "He has only to make them known." 

Interpreter. " His Majesty will do all Your 
Excellency desires." 

Minister. " First then, Your Majesty, there is 
the little aft'air of the Greek who was murdered 
last year at Azila. I am sure that I can rely on 
an indemnity for his widow." 

Interpreter. " The Minister speaks of the 
Greek who was murdered — by your leave, yes, my 
Lord — at Azila last year : yes, my Lord. The 
Ambassador wishes him to be paid for." 

Sn/tan. ** How much does he ask .-* " 

This being duly interpreted, the Minister 
replied — 

" Thirty thousand dollars." 

Sultan. *' Half that sum would do, but we will 
see. What next ? " 

Interpreter. ** His Majesty thinks that too 
much, but as Your Excellency says, so be it." 

Minister. " I thank His Majesty, and beg to 
bring to his notice the imprisonment of a Greek 
proteg^, Mesatid bin Aiidah, at Mazagan some 
months ago, and to ask for his liberation and for 
damages. This is a most important case." 

Interpreter. " The Minister wants that thief 
Mesaud bin Atidah, whom the Basha of Mazagan 
has in gaol, to be let out, and he asks also for 
damages : yes, my Lord." 

Sultan. " The man was no lawful prottg^. I 



DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 217 

can do nothing in the case. Bin Audah is a 
criminal, and cannot be protected." 

Interpreter. " His Majesty fears that this is a 
matter in which he cannot obHge Your Excellency, 
much as he would like to, since the man in question 
is a thief. It is no use saying anything further 
about this." 

Minister. " Then ask about that Jew Botbol, 
who was thrashed. Though not a proteg^, His 
Majesty might be able to do something." 

Interpreter. " His Excellency brings before 
our Lord a most serious matter indeed; yes, my 
Lord. It is absolutely necessary that redress should 
be granted to Maimon Botbol, the eminent 
merchant of Mogador whom the kaid of that place 
most brutally treated last year : yes, my Lord. 
And this is most important, for Botbol is a 
great friend of His Excellency, who has taken the 
treatment that the poor man received very much to 
heart. He is sure that our Lord will not hesitate 
to order the payment of the damages demanded, 
only fifty thousand dollars." 

Sultan. "In consideration of the stress the 
Minister lays upon this case, he shall have ten 
thousand dollars." 

Interpreter. ** His Majesty will pay Your 
Excellency ten thousand dollars damages." 

Minister. ** As that is more than I had even 
hoped to ask, you will duly thank His Majesty 
most heartily for this spontaneous generosity." 

Interpreter. " The Minister says that is not 
sufficient from our Lord, but he will not oppose his 
will : yes, my Lord." 

Sultan. " I cannot do more." 



2iS LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Interpreter. " His INIajesty says it gives him 
great pleasure to pay it." 

Minister. " Now there is the question of 
slaver}\ I have here a petition from a great 
society at Athens requesting His Majesty to con- 
sider whether he cannot abolish the system through- 
out his realm," handing the Sultan an elaborate 
Arabic scroll in Syrian characters hard to be 
deciphered even by the secretary to whom it is 
consigned for perusal ; the Sultan, though an 
Arabic scholar, not taking sufficient interest in the 
matter to tliink of it again. 

Interpreter. " There are some fanatics in the 
land of Greece, yes, my Lord, who want to see 
slavery abolished here, by thy leave, yes, my Lord, 
but I will explain to the Bashador that this is 
impossible." 

Sit/tan. "Certainly. It is an unalterable insti- 
tution. Those who think otherwise are fools. 
Besides, your agent Drees deals in slaves ! " 

Interpreter. "His Majesty will give the peti- 
tion his best attention, and if possible grant it with 
pleasure." 

Minister. "You will thank His Majesty very 
much. It will rejoice my fellow-countrymen to 
hear it. Next, a Greek firm has offered to con- 
struct the much-needed port at Tangier, if His 
Majesty will grant us the concession till the work 
be paid for by the tolls. Such a measure would 
tend to greatly increase the Moorish revenues." 

Interpreter. ** The Minister wishes to build a 
port at Tangier, yes, my Lord, and to hold it till 
the tolls have paid for it." 

Sultan. "Which may not be till Doomsday. 



DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 219 

Nevertheless, I will consent to any one making the 
port whom all the European representatives shall 
agree to appoint " — a very safe promise to make, 
since the Emperor knew that this agreement was 
not likely to be brought about till the said Domes- 
day. 

Interpreter. " Your Excellency's request is 
granted. You have only to obtain the approval of 
your colleagues." 

Minister. " His Majesty is exceedingly gracious, 
and I am correspondingly obliged to him. Inform 
His Majesty that the same firm is willing to build 
him bridges over his rivers, and to make roads 
between the provinces, which would increase friendly 
communications, and consequently tend to reduce 
inter-tribal feuds." 

Interpreter. " The Minister thanks our Lord, 
and wants also to build bridges and roads in the 
interior to make the tribes friendly by intercourse." 

Sultan. " That would never do. The more I 
keep the tribes apart the better for me. If I did 
not shake up my rats in the sack pretty often, they 
would gnaw their way out. Besides, where my 
people could travel more easily, so could foreign 
invaders. No, I cannot think of such a thing. 
God created the world without bridges." 

Interpreter. ** His Majesty is full of regret that 
in this matter he is unable to please Your Excel- 
lency, but he thinks his country better as it is." 

Minister. " Although I beg to differ from His 
Majesty, so be it. Next there is the question of 
our commerce with Morocco. This is greatly 
hampered by the present lack of a fixed customs 
tariff. There are several articles of which the 



220 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

exportation is now prohibited, which it would be 
really very much in the interest of his people to 
allow us to purchase." 

Interpreter. " The Minister requests of our 
Lord a new customs tariff, and the right to export 
wheat and barley." 

Sultan. " The tariff he may discuss with the 
Wazeer of the Interior; I will give instructions. 
As for the cereals, the bread of the Faithful cannot 
be given to infidels." 

Interpreter. " His Majesty accedes to your 
Excellency's request. You have only to make 
known the details to the Minister for Internal 
Affairs." 

Minister. " Again I humbly render thanks to 
his Majesty. Since he is so particularly good to 
me, perhaps he would add one kindness more, in 
abandoning to me the old house and garden on the 
Marshan at Tangier, in which the Foreign Minister 
used to live. It is good for nothing, and would be 
useful to me." 

Interpreter. " The Minister asks our Lord for a 
couple of houses in Tangier. Yes, my Lord, the 
one formerly occupied by the Foreign Minister on 
the Marshan at Tangier for himself; and the other 
adjoining the New Mosque in town, just an old 
tumble-down place for stores, to be bestowed upon 
me ; yes, my Lord." 

Sultan. " What sort of place is that on the 
Marshan ? " 

Interpreter. " I will not lie unto my lord. It 
is a fine big house in a large garden, with wells and 
fruit trees : yes, my Lord. But the other is a mere 
nothing : yes, my Lord." 



DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 221 

Sultan, " 1 will do as he wishes — if it please 
God." (The latter expression showing the reverse 
of an intention to carry out the former.) 

Interpreter. "His Majesty gives you the house." 

Minister. "His Majesty is indeed too kind to 
me. I therefore regret exceedingly having to bring 
forward a number of claims which have been pend- 
ing for a long time, but with the details of which I 
will not of course trouble His Majesty personally. 
I merely desire his instructions to the Treasury to 
discharge them on their being admitted by the com- 
petent authorities." 

Interpreter. " The Minister brings before our 
Lord a number of claims, on the settlement of which 
he insists : yes, my Lord. He feels it a disgrace 
that they should have remained unpaid so long : 
yes, my Lord. And he asks for orders to be given 
to discharge them at once." 

Sultan. " There is neither force nor power 
save in God, the High, the Mighty. Glory to 
Him ! There is no telling what these Nazarenes 
won't demand next. I will pay all just claims, of 
course, but many of these are usurers' frauds, with 
which I will have nothing to do." 

Interpreter. " His Majesty will give the neces- 
sary instructions ; but the claims will have to be 
examined, as Your Excellency has already sug- 
gested. His Majesty makes the sign of the con- 
clusion of our interview." 

Minister. "Assure His Majesty how deeply 
indebted I am to him for these favours he has 
shown me, but allow me to in some measure 
acknowledge them by giving information of im- 
portance. I am entirely au courant, through private 



222 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

channels, with the unworthy tactics of the British 
Minister, as also those of his two-faced colleagues, 
the representatives of France and Spain, and can 
disclose them to His Majesty whenever he desires." 

Interpreter. "His Excellency does not know 
how to express his gratitude to our Lord for his 
undeserved and unprecedented condescension, and 
feels himself bound the slave of our Lord, willing 
to do all our Lord, requires of his hands ; yes, my 
lord. But he trusts that our Lord will not forget 
the houses — and the one in town is only a little one, 
— or the payment of the indemnity to Maimon 
Botbol, yes, my Lord, or the discharging of the 
claims. God bless our Lord, and give him victory ! 
And also, pardon me, my Lord, the Minister says 
that all the other ministers are rogues, and he 
knows all about them that our Lord may wish to 
learn : yes, my Lord." 

** God is omniscient. He can talk of those 
matters to the Foreign Minister to-morrow. In 
peace ! " 

Once more a few of his stock phrases were 
manoeuvred by Kyrios Mavrogordato, as with the 
most profound of rear-steering bows the representa- 
tives of civilization retreated, and. the potentate of 
Barbary turned with an air of relief to give instruc- 
tions to his secretary. 



III. The Result 

A few weeks after this interview the Hellenike 
Salpinx, a leading journal of Athens, contained an 
article of which the following is a translation : — 



DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 223 

"OUR INTERESTS IN MOROCCO 

" {From our Special Correspondent^ 

" Marrdkesh, October 20. 

"The success of our Embassy to Morocco is already- 
assured, and that in a remarkable degree. The Sultan has 
once more shown most unequivocally his strong partiality 
for the Greek nation, and especially for their distinguished 
representative, Kyrios Dimitri Mavrogordato, whose per- 
sonal tact and influence have so largely contributed to 
this most thankworthy result. It is very many years since 
such a number of requests have been granted by the 
Emperor of Morocco to one ambassador, and it is probable 
that under the most favourable circumstances no other 
Power could have hoped for such an exhibition of favour. 

" The importance of the concessions is sufficient to mark 
this embassy in the history of European relations with 
Morocco, independently of the amount of ordinary business 
transacted, and the way in which the Sultan has promised 
to satisfy our outstanding claims. Among other favours, 
permission has been granted to a Greek firm to construct 
a port at Tangier, the chief seat of foreign trade in the 
Empire, which is a matter of national importance, and 
there is every likelihood of equally valuable concessions 
for the building of roads and bridges being made to the 
same company. 

" Our merchants will be rejoiced to learn that at last 
the vexatious customs regulations, or rather the absence 
of them, will be replaced by a regular tariff, which our 
minister has practically only to draw up for it to be 
sanctioned by the Moorish Government. The question of 
slavery, too, is under the consideration of the Sultan with 
a view to its restriction, if not to its abolition, a distinct 
and unexpected triumph for the friends of universal 
freedom. There can be no question that, under its present 
enlightened ruler, Morocco is at last on the high-road to 
civilization. 

" Only those who have had experience in dealing with 



224 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

procrastinating politicians of the eastern school can appre- 
ciate in any degree the consummate skill and patience 
which is requisite to overcome the sinuosities of oriental 
minds, and it is only such a signal victory as has just been 
won for Greece and for progress in Morocco, as can enable 
us to realize the value to the State of such diplomatists as 
His Excellency, Kyrios Mavrogordato." 

This article had not appeared in print before 
affairs on the spot wore a very different com- 
plexion. At the interview with the Minister for the 
Interior a most elaborate customs tariff had been 
presented and discussed, some trifling alterations 
being made, and the whole being left to be sub- 
mitted to the Sultan for his final approval, with the 
assurance that this was only a matter of form. The 
Minister of Finance had promised most blandly the 
payment of the damages demanded for the murder 
of the Greek and for the thrashing of the Jew. It 
was true that as yet no written document had been 
handed to the Greek Ambassador, but then he had 
the word of the Ministers themselves, and promises 
from the Sultan's lips as well. The only fait 
accompli was the despatch of a courier to Tangier 
with orders to deliver up the keys of two specified 
properties to the Ambassador and his interpreter 
respectively, a matter which, strange to say, found 
no place in the messages to the Press, and in which 
the spontaneous present to the interpreter struck 
His Excellency as a most generous act on the part 
of the Sultan. 

Quite a number of state banquets had been 
given, in which the members of the Embassy had 
obtained an insight into stylish native cooking, 
writing home that half the dishes were prepared 



DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 225 

with pomatum and the other half with rancid oil 
and butter. The limrateur of the party had nearly 
completed his work on Morocco, and was seriously 
thinking of a second volume. The young attaches 
could swear right roundly in Arabic, and were be- 
coming perfect connoisseurs of native beauty. In 
the palatial residence of Drees, as well as in a 
private residence which that worthy had placed at 
their disposal, they had enjoyed a selection of native 
female society, and had such good times under the 
wing of that " rare old cock," as they dubbed him, 
that one or two began to feel as though they had 
lighted among the lotus eaters, and had little desire 
to return. 

But to Kyrios Mavrogordato and Glymeno- 
poulos his secretary, the delay at Court began to 
grow irksome, and they heartily wished themselves 
back in Tangier. Notwithstanding the useful "tips" 
which he had given to the Foreign Minister re- 
garding the base designs of his various colleagues 
accredited to that Court, his own affairs seemed to 
hang fire. He had shown how France was deter- 
mined to make war upon Morocco sooner or later, 
with a view to adding its fair plains to those it was 
acquiring in Algeria, and had warned him that if the 
Sultan lent assistance to the Ameer Abd el Kader 
he would certainly bring this trouble upon himself. 
He had also shown how England pretended friend- 
ship because at any cost she must maintain at least 
the neutrality of that part of his country bordering 
on the Straits of Gibraltar, and that with all her 
professions of esteem, she really cared not a straw 
for the Moors. He had shown too that puny Spain 
held it as an article of faith that Morocco should 



226 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

one day become hers in return for the rule of the 
Moors upon her own soil. He had, in fact, shown 
that Greece alone cared for the real interests of the 
Sultan. 

IV. DiA^roND Cut Dumond 

Yet things did not move. The treaty of com- 
merce remained unsigned, and slaves were still 
bought and sold. The numerous claims which he 
had to enforce had only been passed in part, and 
the Moorish authorities seemed inclined to dispute 
the others stoutly. At last, at a private conference 
with the Wazeer el Kiddab, the Ambassador 
broached a proposal to cut the Gordian knot. 
He would abandon all disputed claims for a lump 
sum paid privately to himself, and asked what 
the Moorish Government might feel inclined to 
offer. 

The Wazeer el Kiddab received this proposal 
with great complacency. He was accustomed to 
such overtures. Every day of his life that style of 
bargain was part of his business. But this was the 
first time that a European ambassador had made 
such a suggestion in its nakedness, and he was 
somewhat taken aback, though his studied indiffer- 
ence of manner did not allow the foreigner to sus- 
pect such a thing for a moment. The usual style 
had been for him to offer present after present to 
the ambassadors till he had reached their price, and 
then, when his master had overloaded them with 
personal favours — many of which existed but in 
promise — they had been unable to press too hard 
the claims they had come to enforce, for fear oi 



DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 227 

possible disclosures. So this was a novel proceed- 
ing, though quite comprehensible on the part of a 
man who had been bribed on a less extensive scale 
on each previous visit to Court. Once, however, 
such a proposition had been made, it was evident 
that his Government could not be much in earnest 
regarding demands which he could so easily afford 
to set aside. 

As soon, therefore, as Kyrios Mavrogordato 
had left, the Wazeer ordered his mule, that he 
might wait upon His Majesty before the hours of 
busmess were over. His errand being stated as 
urgent and private, he was admitted without delay 
to his sovereign's presence. 

" May God prolong the days of our Lord ! I 
come to say that the way to rid ourselves of the 
importunity of this ambassador from Greece is 
plain. He has made it so himself by offering to 
abandon all disputed claims for a round sum down 
for his^^own use. What is the pleasure of my 

"God is great!" exclaimed the Sultan, "that is 
well. You may inform the Minister from me that 
a positive refusal is given to every demand not 
already allowed in writing. What he can afford to 
abandon, / can't afford to pay." 

" The will of our Lord shall be done." 
"But stay! I have had my eye upon that 
Greek ambassador this long while, and am getting 
tired of him. The abuses he commits are atrocious 
and his man Drees is a devil. Hdj Taib el Ghassdi 
writes that the number of \{\s protegh is legion, and 
that by far the greater number of them are illegal. 
Inform him when you see him that henceforth the 



228 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

provisions of our treaties shall be strictly adhered to, 
and moreover that no protection certificates shall be 
valid unless countersigned by our Foreign Commis- 
sioner El Ghassal. If I rule here, I will put an end 
to this man's doings." 

" On my head and eyes be the words of my 
Lord." 

" And remind him further that the permits for 
the free passage of goods at the customs are granted 
only for his personal use, for the necessities of his 
household, and that the way Haj Taib writes he 
has been selling them is a disgrace. The man is a 
resfular swindler, and the less we have to do with 
him the better. As for his pretended information 
about his colleagues, there may be a good deal of 
truth in it, but I have the word of the English 
minister, who is about as honest as any of them, 
that this Mavrogordato is a born villain, and that if 
his Government is not greedy for my country on 
its own account, it wants to sell me to some more 
powerful neighbour in exchange for its protection. 
Greece is only a miserable fag-end of Europe." 

" Our Lord knows : may God give him victory," 
and the Wazeer bowed himself out to consider how 
best he might obey his instructions, not exactly 
liking the task. On returning home he despatched 
a messenger to the quarters of the Embassy, 
appointing an hour on the morrow for a conference, 
and when this came the Ambassador found himself 
in for a stormy interview. The Wazeer, with his 
snuff-box in constant use, sat cool and collected on 
his mattress on the floor, the Ambassador sitting un- 
easily on a chair before him. Though the language 
used was considerably modified in filtering through 



DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 229 

the brain of the interpreter, the increasing violence 
of tone and gesture could not be concealed, and 
were all but sufficiently comprehensible in them- 
selves. The Ambassador protested that if the 
remainder of the demands were to be refused, he 
was entitled to at least as much as the French 
representative had had to shut his mouth last time 
he came to Court, and affected overwhelming in- 
dignation at the treatment he had received. 

'* Besides," he added, " I have the promise of 
His Majesty the Sultan himself that certain of them 
should be paid in full, and I cannot abandon those. 
I have informed my Government of the Sultan's 
words." 

" Dost suppose that my master is a dog of a 
Nazarene, that he should keep his word to thee ? 
Nothing thou may'st say can alter his decision. 
The claims that have been allowed in writing shall 
be paid by the Customs Administrators on thy 
return to Tangier. Here are orders for the 
money." 

" I absolutely refuse to accept a portion of what 
my Government demands. I will either receive 
the whole, or I will return empty-handed, and 
report on the treacherous way in which I have 
been treated. I am thoroughly sick of the pro- 
crastinating and prevaricating ways of this country 
— a disgrace to the age." 

'* And we are infinitely more sick of thy be- 
haviour and thine abuse of the favours we have 
granted thee. Our lord has expressly instructed 
me to tell thee that in future no excess of the rights 
guaranteed to foreigners by treaty will be permitted 
on any account. Thy protection certificates to be 



230 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

valid must be endorsed by our Foreign Commis- 
sioner, and the nature of the goods thou importest 
free of duty as for thyself shall be strictly examined, 
as we have the right to do, that no more defrauding 
of our revenue be permitted." 

** Your words are an insult to my nation," ex- 
claimed the Ambassador, rising, " and shall be duly 
reported to my Government. I cannot sit here 
and listen to vile impeachments like these ; you 
know them to be false ! " 

" That is no affair of mine ; I have delivered 
the decision of our lord, and have no more to say. 
The claims we refuse are all of them unjust, the 
demands of usurers, on whom be the curse of God ; 
and demands for money which has never been 
stolen, or has already been paid ; every one of 
them is a shameful fraud, God knows. Leeches 
are only fit to be trodden on when they have done 
their work ; we want none of them." 

"Your language is disgraceful, such as was 

never addressed to me in my life before ; if I do 

not receive an apology by noon to-morrow, I will 

at once set out for Tangier, if not for Greece, and 

warn you of the possible consequences." 

* * * * 

The excitement in certain circles in Athens on 

the receipt of the intelligence that the Embassy to 

Morocco had failed, after all the flourish of trumpets 

with which its presumed successes had been hailed, 

was great indeed. One might have thought that 

once more the brave Hellenes were thirsting for 

the conquest of another Sicily, to read the columns 

of the Palingenesia, some of the milder paragraphs 

of which, translated, ran thus : — 



DIPLOMACY IN MOROCCO 231 

" A solemn duty has been imposed upon our nation by 
the studied indignities heaped upon our representative at 
the Court of Morocco. Greece has been challenged, 
Europe defied, and the whole civilized world insulted. 
The duty now before us is none other than to wipe from 
the earth that nest of erstwhile pirates flattered by the 
name of the Moorish Government. . . . 

" As though it were insufficient to have refused the 
just demands presented by Kyrios Mavrogordato for the 
payment of business debts due to Greek merchants, and 
for damages acknowledged to be due to others for pro- 
perty stolen by lawless bandits, His Excellency has been 
practically dismissed from the Court in a manner which 
has disgraced our flag in the eyes of all Morocco. 

" Here are two counts which need no exaggeration. 
Unless the payment of just business debts is duly enforced 
by the Moorish Government, as it would be in any other 
country, and unless the native agents of our merchants are 
protected fully by the local authorities, it is hopeless to 
think of maintaining commercial relations with such a 
nation, so that insistence on these demands is of vital 
necessity to our trade, and a duty to our growing manu- 
factories. 

" The second count is of the simplest : such treatment 
as has been meted out to our Minister Plenipotentiary in 
Morocco, especially after the bland way in which he was 
met at first with empty promises and smiles, is worthy 
only of savages or of a people intent on war." 

The Hellenike Salpinx was hardly less vehe- 
ment in the language in which it chronicled the 
course of events in Morocco : — 

" Notwithstanding the unprecedented manner in which 
the requests of His Excellency, Kyrios Dimitri Mavrogor- 
dato, our Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extra- 
ordinary at the Court of Morocco, were acceded to on the 
recent Embassy to Mulai Abd er-Rahman, the Moors have 
shown their true colours at last by equally marked, but 
less astonishing, insults. 



232 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

" The unrivalled diplomatic talents of our ambassador 
proved, in fact, too much for the Moorish Government, 
and though the discovery of the way in which a Nazarene 
was obtaining his desires from the Sultan may have 
aroused the inherent obstinacy of the wazeers, and thus 
produced the recoil which we have described, it is far more 
likely that this was brought about by the officious inter- 
ference of one or two other foreign representatives at 
Tangier. It has been for some time notorious that the 
Sardinian consul-general — who at the same time repre- 
sents Portugal — loses no opportunity of undermining 
Grecian influence in Morocco, and in this certain of his 
colleagues have undoubtedly not been far behind him. 

" Nevertheless, whatever causes may have been at work 
in bringing about this crisis, it is one which cannot be 
tided over, but which must be fairly faced. Greece has 
but one course before her." 



XXVI 
PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES 

" Misfortune is misfortune's heir." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Externally the gaol of Tangier does not differ 
greatly in appearance from an ordinary Moorish 
house, and even internally it is of the plan which 
prevails throughout the native buildings from 
fandaks to palaces. A door-way in a blank wall, 
once whitewashed, gives access to a kind of lobby, 
such as might precede the entrance to some 
grandee's house, but instead of being neat and 
clean, it is filthy and dank, and an unwholesome 
odour pervades the air. On a low bench at the 
far end lie a guard or two in dirty garments, fitting 
ornaments for such a place. By them is the low- 
barred entrance to the prison, with a hole in the 
centre the size of such a face as often fills it, wan 
and hopeless. A clanking of chains, a confused din 
of voices, and an occasional moan are borne through 
the opening on the stench-laden atmosphere. " All 
hope abandon, ye who enter here ! " could never have 
been written on portal more appropriate than this, 
unless he who entered had friends and money. Here 
are forgotten good and bad, the tried and the un- 
tried, just and unjust together, sunk in a night of 
blank despair, a living grave. 

233 



234 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Around an open courtyard, protected by an iror 
grating at the top, is a row of dirty columns, anc 
behind them a kind of arcade, on to which open : 
number of doorless chambers. Filth is apparen 
everywhere, and to the stifling odour of that un 
washed horde is added that caused by insanitary 
drainage. To some of the pillars are chained poo 
wretches little more than skeletons, while a cable c 
considerable length secures others. It is locke* 
at one end to a staple outside the door under whid 
it passes, and is threaded through rings on the iro; 
collars of half a dozen prisoners who have bee 
brought in as rebels from a distant province. Fo 
thirteen days they have tramped thus, carrying tha 
chain, holding it up by their hands to save thei 
shoulders, and two empty rings still threaded o 
show that when they started they numbered eigh 
Since the end rings are riveted to the chain, it ha 
been impossible to remove them, so when two fe 
sick by the way the drivers cut off their heads t 
effect the release of their bodies, and to prove, b 
presenting those ghastly trophies at their journey 
end, that none had escaped. 

Many of the prisoners are busy about the floo 
where they squat in groups, plaiting baskets an 
satchels of palmetto leaves, while many appear to 
weak and disheartened even to earn a subsistenc 
in this way. One poor fellow, who has been 
courier, was employed one day twenty-five yeai 
since to carry a despatch to Court, complaining ( 
the misdeeds of a governor. That official hin 
self intercepted the letter, and promptly despatche 
the bearer to Tangier as a Sultan's prisoner. H 
then arrested the writer of the letter, who, on payin 



PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES 235 

a heavy fine, regained his liberty, but the courier 
remained unasked for. In course of time the kaid 
was called to his account, and his son, who suc- 
ceeded him in office, having died too, a stranger 
ruled in their stead. The forgotten courier had by 
this time lost his reason, fancying himself once more 
in his goat-hair tent on the southern plains, and 
with unconscious irony he still gives every new 
arrival the Arab greeting, "Welcome to thee, a 
thousand welcomes ! Make thyself at home and 
comfortable. All before thee is thine, and what 
thou seest not, be sure we don't possess." 

Some few, in better garments, hold themselves 
aloof from the others, and converse together with all 
the nonchalance of gossip in the streets, for they are 
well-to-do, arrested on some trivial charge which a 
few dollars apiece will soon dispose of, but they are 
exceptions. A quieter group occupies one corner, 
members of a party of no less than sixty- two 
brought in together from Fez, on claims made 
against them by a European Power. A sym- 
pathetic inquiry soon elicits their histories.* The 
first man to speak is hoary and bent with years ; he 
was arrested several years ago, on the death of a 
brother who had owed some $50 to a European. 
The second had borrowed $900 in exchange for a 
bond for twice that amount ; he had paid off half of 
this, and having been unable to do more, had been 
arrested eighteen months before. The third had 
similarly received $80 for a promise to pay $160; 
he had been in prison five years and three months. 

* All these statements were taken down from the lips of the victims 
at the prison door, and most, if not all of them, v/ere supported by 
documentary evidence. 



236 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Another had borrowed $100, and knew not the sum 
which stood yet against him. Another had been in 
prison five years for a debt alleged to have been 
contracted by an uncle long dead. Another had 
borrowed $50 on a bond for $100. Another had 
languished eighteen months in gaol on a claim for 
$120; the amount originally advanced to him was 
about $30, but the acknowledgment was for $60, 
which had been renewed for $120 on its falling due 
and being dishonoured. Another had borrowed $15 
on agreeing to refund $30, which was afterwards 
increased to |6o and then to $105. He has been 
imprisoned three years. The debt of another, 
originally $16 for a loan of half that amount, has 
since been doubled twice, and now stands at $64, 
less $17 paid on account, while for forty-two 
measures of wheat delivered on account he can get 
no allowance, though that was three years ago, and 
four months afterwards he was sent to prison. 
Another had paid off the $50 he owed for an 
advance of $25, but on some claim for expenses the 
creditor had withheld the bond, and is now suing 
for the whole amount again. He has been in 
prison two years and six months. Another has paid 
twenty measures of barley on account of a bond for 
$100, for which he has received $50, and he was 
imprisoned at the same time as the last speaker, his 
debt being due to the same man. Another had 
borrowed $90 on the usual terms, and has paid the 
whole in cash or wheat, but cannot get back the 
bond. He has previously been imprisoned for a 
year, but two years after his release he was re- 
arrested, fourteen months ago. Another has been two 
months in gaol on a claim for $25 for a loan of $12. 



PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES 237 

The last one has a bitter tale to tell, if any could 
be worse than the wearisome similarity of those who 
have preceded him. 

"Some years ago," he says, "I and my two 
brothers, Drees and Ali, borrowed $200 from a 
Jew of Mequinez, for which we gave him a notarial 
bond for $400. We paid him a small sum on 
account every month, as we could get it — a few 
dollars at a time — besides presents of butter, fowls, 
and eggs. At the end of the first year he threatened 
to imprison us, and made us change the bond for 
one for $800, and year by year he raised the debt 
this way till it reached $3000, even after allowing 
for what we had paid off. I saw no hope of ever 
meeting his claim, so I ran away, and my brother 
Drees was imprisoned for six years. He died last 
winter, leaving a wife and three children, the 
youngest, a daughter, being born a few months 
after her father was taken away. He never saw 
her. By strenuous efforts our family paid off the 
$3000, selling all their land, and borrowing small 
sums. But the Jew would not give up the bond. 
He died about two years ago, and we do not know 
who is claiming now, but we are told that the sum 
demanded is $560. We have nothing now left to 
sell, and, being in prison, we cannot work. When 
my brother Drees died, I and my brother Ali were 
seized to take his place. My kaid was very sorry 
for me, and became surety that I would not escape, 
so that my irons were removed ; but my brother 
remains still in fetters, as poor Drees did all through 
the six years. We have no hope of our friends 
raising any money, so we must wait for death to 
release us." 



238 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Here he covers his face with his hands, and 
several of his companions, in spite of their own dire 
troubles, have to draw their shrivelled arms across 
their eyes, as silence falls upon the group. 

As we turn away heartsick a more horrible 
sight than any confronts us before the lieutenant- 
governor's court. A man is suspended by the arms 
and legs, face downwards, by a party of police, who 
grasp his writhing limbs. With leather thongs a 
stalwart policeman on either side is striking his 
bare back in turn. Already blood is flowing freely, 
but the victim does not shriek. He only winces 
and groans, or gives an almost involuntary cry as 
the cruel blows fall on some previously harrowed 
spot. He is already unable to move his limbs, but 
the blows fall thick and fast. Will they never cease .'* 

By the side stands a young European counting 
them one by one, and when the strikers slow down 
from exhaustion he orders them to stop, that others 
may relieve them. The victim is by this time 
swooning, so the European directs that he shall be 
put on the ground and deluged with water till he 
revives. When sufficiently restored the count 
begins again. Presently the European stays them 
a second time ; the man is once again insensible, 
yet he has only received six hundred lashes of the 
thousand which have been ordered. 

" Well," he exclaims, " it's no use going on with 
him to-day. Put him in the gaol now, and I'll 
come and see him have the rest to-morrow." 

" God bless thee, but surely he has had enough!" 
exclaims the lieutenant-governor, in sympathetic 
tones. 

" Enough ? He deserves double ! The consul 



PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES 239 

has only ordered a thousand, and I am here to see 
that he has every one. We'll teach these villains 
to rob our houses ! " 

"There is neither force nor power save in 
God, the High, the Mighty ! As thou sayest ; it is 
written," and the powerless official turns away dis- 
gusted. " God burn these Nazarenes, their wives 
and families, and all their ancestors ! They were 
never fit for aught but hell ! " he may be heard 
muttering as he enters his house, and well may he 
feel as he does. 

The policemen carry the victim off to the gaol 
hard by, depositing him on the ground, after once 
more restoring him with cold water. 

" God burn their fathers and their grandfathers, 
and the whole cursed race of them!" they murmur, 
for their thoughts still run upon the consul and the 
clerk. 

Leaving him sorrowfully, they return to the 
yard, where we still wait to obtain some informa- 
tion as to the cause of such treatment. 

" Why, that dog of a Nazarene, the Greek 
consul, says that his house was robbed a month 
ago, though we don't believe him, for it wasn't 
worth it. The sinner says that a thousand dollars 
were stolen, and he has sent in a claim for it to the 
Sultan. The minister's now at court for the money, 
the Satan ! God rid our country of them all ! " 

" But how does this poor fellow come in for it ? " 

" He ! He never touched the money ! Only 
he had some quarrel with the clerk, so they accused 
him of the theft, as he was the native living nearest 
to the house, just over the fence. He's nothing 
but a poor donkey-man, and an honest one at that. 



240 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

The consul sent his clerk up here to say he was 
the thief, and that he must receive a thousand 
lashes. The governor refused till the man should 
be tried and convicted, but the Greek wouldn't hear 
of it, and said that if he wasn't punished at once he 
would send a courier to his minister at Marrakesh, 
and have a complaint made to the Sultan. The 
governor knew that if he escaped it would most 
likely cost him his post to fight the consul, so he 
gave instructions for the order to be carried out, 
and went indoors so as not to be present." 

" God is supreme ! " ejaculates a bystander. 

" But these infidels of Nazarenes know nothing 
of Him. His curse be on them ! " answers the 
policeman. " They made us ride the poor man 
round the town on a bare-backed donkey, with his 
face to the tail, and all the way two of us had to 
thrash him, crying, ' Thus shall be done to the man 
who robs a consul ! ' He was ready to faint before 
we got him up here. God knows we don't want to 
lash him again ! " 

* * * * 

Next day as we pass the gaol we stop to inquire 
after the prisoner, but the poor fellow is still too 
weak to receive the balance due, and so it is for 
several days. Then they tell us that he has been 
freed from them by God, who has summoned his 
spirit, though meanwhile the kindly attentions of a 
doctor have been secured, and everything possible 
under the circumstances has been done to relieve 
his sufferings. After all, he was " only a Moor ! " 



PRISONERS AND CAPTIVES 241 

The Greek consul reported that the condition 
of the Moorish prisons was a disgrace to the age, 
and that he had himself known prisoners who had 
succumbed to their evil state after receiving a few 
strokes from the lash. 

A statement of claim for a thousand dollars, 
alleged to have been robbed from his house, was 
forwarded by courier to his chief, then at Court, 
and was promptly added to the demands that it 
was part of His Excellency's errand to enforce. 



R 



XXVII 
THE PROTECTION SYSTEM 

" My heart burns, but my lips will not give utterance." 

Moorish Proverb. 

I. The Need 

Crouched at the foreigner's feet lay what appeared 
but a bundle of rags, in reality a suppliant Moor, 
once a man of wealth and position. Hugging a pot 
of butter brought as an offering, clutching convul- 
sively at the leg of the chair, his furrowed face 
bespoke past suffering and present earnestness. 

" God bless thee, Bashador, and all the Chris- 
tians, and give me grace in thy sight ! " 

" Oh, indeed, so you like the Christians ? " 

"Yes, Bashador, I must love the Christians; 
they have justice, we have none. I wish they had 
rule over the country." 

** Then you are not a good Muslim ! " 

*'Oh yes, I am, I am a haj (pilgrim to Mekka), 
and I love my own religion, certainly I do, but none 
of our officials follow our religion nowadays : they 
have no religion. They forget God and worship 
money ; their delight is in plunder and oppression." 

•* You appear to have known better days. What 
is your trouble ? " 

" Trouble enough," replies the Moor, with a 
242 



THE PROTECTION SYSTEM 243 

sigh. " I am Hamed Zirdri. I was rich once, and 
powerful in my tribe, but now I have only this 
sheep and two goats. I and my wife live alone 
with our children in a nuallah (hut), but after all we 
are happier now when they leave us alone, than 
when we were rich. I have plenty of land left, it 
IS true, but we dare not for our lives cultivate more 
than a small patch around our nuallah, lest we 
should be pounced upon again." 

" How did you lose your property ? " 
" I will tell you, Bashador, and then you will 
see whether I am justified in speaking of our 
Government ias I do. It is a sad story, but I will 
tell you all.* A few years ago I possessed more 
than six hundred cows and bullocks, more than 
twelve hundred sheep, a hundred good camels, 
fifty mules, twenty horses, and twenty-four mares. 
I had also four wives and many slaves. I had 
plenty of guns and abundance of grain in my 
stores ; in fact, I was rich and powerful among my 
people, by whom I was held in great honour ; but 
alas! alas! our new kaid is worse than the old 
one ; he is insatiable, a pit without a bottom ! 
There is no possibility of satisfying his greed ! 

" I felt that although by continually making him 
valuable presents I succeeded in keeping on friendly 
terms with him, he was always coveting my wealth. 
We have in our district two markets a week, and at 
last I had to present him with from $50 to $80 
every market-day. I was nevertheless in constant 
dread of his eyes — they are such greedy eyes — and 
I saw that it would be necessary to look out for 

* This story is reproduced from notes taken of the man's narrative 
by my father.— B. M, 



244 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

protection. I was too loyal a subject of the Sultan 
then, and too good a Muslim, to think of Nazarene 
protection, so I applied for help to Si Mohammed 
boo Aalam, commander-in-chief of our lord (whom 
may God send victorious), and to enter the Sultan's 
service. 

" We prepared a grand present with which to 
approach him, and when it was ready I started with 
it, accompanied by two of my cousins. We took 
four splendid horses, four mares with their foals, 
four she-camels with their young, four picked cows, 
two pairs of our best bullocks, four fine young male 
slaves, each with a silver-mounted gun, and four 
well-dressed female slaves, each carrying a new 
bucket in her hand, many jars containing fresh and 
salted butter and honey, beside other things, and a 
thousand dollars in cash. It was a fine present, 
was it not, Bashador ? 

"Well, on arrival at Si Mohammed's place, we 
slaughtered two bullocks at his door, and humbly 
begged his gracious acceptance of our offering, 
which we told him we regretted was not greater, 
but that as we were his brethren, we trusted to find 
favour in his sight. We said we wished to honour 
him, and to become his fortunate slaves, whose chief 
delight it would be to do his bidding. We reminded 
him that although he was so rich and powerful he 
was still our brother, and that we desired nothing 
better than to live in continual friendship with him. 

" He received and feasted us very kindly, and 
gave us appointments as mounted guards to the 
marshal of the Sultan, as which we served happily 
for seven months. We were already thinking about 
sending for some of our family to come and relieve 



THE PROTECTION SYSTEM 245 

us, that we miaht return home ourselves, when one 
day Si Mohammed sent for us to say that he was 
going away for a time, having received commands 
from the Sultan to visit a distant tribe with the 
effects of Royal displeasure. After mutual compli- 
ments and blessings he set off with his soldiers. 

" Five days later a party of soldiers came to our 
house. To our utter astonishment and dismay, 
without a word of explanation, they put chains on 
our necks and wrists, and placing us on mules, 
bore us away. Remonstrance and resistance were 
equally vain. We were in Mequinez. It was 
already night, and though the gates were shut, and 
are never opened again except in obedience to high 
authority, they were silently opened for us to pass 
through. Once outside, our eyes were bandaged, 
and we were lashed to our uncomfortable seats! 
Thus we travelled on as rapidly as possible, in 
silence all night long. It was a long night, that, 
mdeed, Bashador, a weary night, but we felt sure 
some worse fate awaited us ; what, we could not 
imagine, for we had committed no crime. Finally, 
after three days we halted, and the bandages were 
removed from our eyes. We found ourselves in a 
market-place in Rahamna, within the jurisdiction of 
our cursed kaid. All around us were our flocks and 
herds, camels, and horses, all our movable pro- 
perty, which we soon learnt had been brought there 
for public sale. A great gathering was there to 
purchase. 

" The kaid was there, and when he saw us he 
exclaimed, ' There you are, are you ? You can't 
escape from me now, you children of dogs ! ' Then 
he turned to a brutal policeman, crying, ' Put the 



246 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

bastards on the ground, and give them a thousand 
lashes.' Those words ring in my ears still. I felt 
as in a dream. I was too utterly in his power to 
think of answering, and after a very few strokes the 
power of doing so was taken from me, for I lost 
consciousness. How many blows we received I 
know not, but we must have been very nearly 
killed. When I revived we were in a filthy mat- 
morah, where we existed for seven months in 
misery, being kept alive on a scanty supply of 
barley loaves and water. At last I pretended to 
have lost my reason, as I should have done in truth 
had I stayed there much longer. When they told 
the kaid this, he gave permission for me to be let 
out. I found my wife and children still living, 
thank God, though they had had very hard times. 
What has become of my cousins I do not know, 
and do not dare to ask, but thou couldst, O Bashador, 
if once I were under thy protection. 

"All I know is that, after receiving our present, 
Si Mohammed sold us to the kaid for twelve 
hundred dollars. He was a fool, Bashador, a great 
fool ; had he demanded of us we would have given 
him twelve hundred dollars to save ourselves what 
we have had to suffer. 

*' Wonderest thou still, O Bashador, that I prefer 
the Nazarenes, and wish there were more of them 
in the country ? I respect the dust off their shoes 
more than a whole nation of miscalled Muslims who 
could treat me as I have been treated ; but God is 
just, and ' there is neither force nor power save in 
God,' yes, ' all is written.' He gives to men accord- 
ing to their hearts. We had bad hearts, and he 
gave us a Government like them." 



THE PROTECTION SYSTEM 247 

II. The Search 

The day was already far spent when at last Abd 
Allah led his animal into one of the caravansarais 
outside the gate of Mazagan, so, after saying his 
evening prayers and eating his evening meal, he 
lay down to rest on a heap of straw in one of the 
little rooms of the fandak, undisturbed either by 
anxious dreams, or by the multitude of lively 
creatures about him. 

Ere the sun had risen the voice of the muedhdhin 
awoke him with the call to early prayer. Shrill and 
clear the notes rang out on the calm morning air in 
that perfect silence — 

" G-o-d is gr-ea — t ! G-o-d is gr-ea — t ! G-o-d 
is grea — t ! I witness that there is no God but 
God, and Mohammed is the messenger of God. 
Come to prayer ! Come to prayer ! Come to prayer ! 
Prayer is better than sleep ! Come to prayer ! " 

Quickly rising, Abd Allah repaired to the water- 
tap, and seating himself on the stone seat before it, 
rapidly performed the prescribed religious ablutions, 
this member three times, then the other as often, 
and so on, all in order, right first, left to follow as 
less honourable, finishing up with the pious ejacu- 
lation, " God greatest ! " Thence to the mosque 
was but a step, and in a few minutes he stood bare- 
footed in those dimly-lighted, vaulted aisles, in which 
the glimmering oil lamps and the early streaks of 
daylight struggled for the mastery. His shoes 
were on the ground before him at the foot of the 
pillar behind which he had placed himself, and his 
hands were raised before his face in the attitude of 
prayer. Then, at the long-drawn cry of the leader, 



248 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

in company with his fellow-worshippers, he bowed 
himself, and again with them rose once more, in 
a moment to kneel down and bow his forehead to 
the earth in humble adoration. 

Having performed the usual series of prayers, 
he was ready for coffee and bread. This he took 
at the door of the fandak, seated on the ground by 
the coffee-stall, inquiring meanwhile the prospects 
of protection in Mazagan. 

There was Tajir * Pepe, always ready to appoint 
a new agent for a consideration, but then he bore 
almost as bad a name for tyrannizing over his 
protegh as did the kaids themselves. There was 
Tajir Yusef the Jew, but then he asked such tre- 
mendous prices, because he was a vice-consul. There 
was Tajir Juan, but then he was not on good enough 
terms with his consul to protect efficiently those 
whom he appointed, so he could not be thought of 
either. But there was Tajir Vecchio, a new man 
from Gibraltar, fast friends with his minister, 
and who must therefore be strong, yet a man 
who did not name too high a figure. To him, 
therefore, Abd Allah determined to apply, and 
when his store was opened presented himself. 

Under his cloak he carried three pots of butter 
in one hand, and as many of honey in the other, 
while a ragged urchin tramped behind with half a 
dozen fowls tied in a bunch by the legs, and a 
basket of eggs. The first thing was to get a word 
with the head-man at the store ; so, slipping a few 
of the eggs into his hands, Abd Allah requested 
an interview with the Tdjir, with whom he had 
come to make friends. This being promised, he 
* " Merchant," used mucluas " Mr." is with us. 



THE PROTECTION SYSTEM 249 

squatted on his heels by the door, where he was 
left to wait an hour or two, remarking to himself at 
intervals that God was great, till summoned by one 
of the servants to enter. 

The merchant was seated behind his desk, and 
Abd Allah, having deposited his burden on the 
floor, was making round the table to throw himself 
at his feet, when he was stopped and allowed but 
to kiss his hand. 

" Well, what dost thou want ? " 

*' I have come to make friends, O Merchant." 

"Who art thou .?" 

" I am Abd Allah bin Boo Shaib es-Salih, O 
Merchant, of Ain Haloo in Rahamna. I have a 
family there, and cattle, and very much land. I 
wish to place all in thy hands, and to become thy 
friend," again endeavouring to throw himself at the 
feet of the European. 

" All right, all right, that will do. I will see 
about it ; come to me again to-morrow." 

*' May God bless thee, O Merchant, and fill 
thee with prosperity, and may He prolong thy 
days in peace! " 

As Tajir Vecchio went on with his writing, Abd 
Allah made off with a hopeful heart to spend the 
next twenty-four anxious hours in the fandak, while 
his offerings were carried away to the private house 
by a servant. 

Next morning saw him there again, when much 
the same scene was repeated. This time, however, 
they got to business. 

" How can I befriend you ? " asked the European, 
after yesterday's conversation had been practically 
repeated. 



250 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

" Thou canst very greatly befriend me by 
making me thy agent in Ain Haloo. I will work 
for thee, and bring thee of the produce of my land 
as others do, if I may only enjoy thy protection. 
May God have mercy on thee, O Merchant. I 
take refuge with thee." 

" I can't be always appointing agents and pro- 
tecting people for nothing. What can you givQ 
me.?" 

"Whatever is just, O Merchant, but the Lord 
knows that I am not rich, though He has bestowed 
sufficient on me to live, praise be to Him." 

" Well, I should want two hundred dollars down, 
and something when the certificate is renewed next 
year, besides which you would of course report 
yourself each quarter, and not come empty-handed. 
Animals and corn I can do best with, but I don't 
want any of your poultry." 

" God bless thee, Merchant, and make thee 
prosperous, but two hundred dollars is a heavy sum 
for me, and this last harvest has not been so 
plentiful as the one before, as thou knowest. Grant 
me this protection for one hundred and fifty dollars, 
and I can manage it, but do not make it an 
impossibility." 

" I can't go any lower : there are scores of 
Moors who would give me that price. Do as you 
like. Good morning." 

" Thou knowest, O Merchant, I could not give 
more than I have offered," replied Abd Allah as 
he rose and left the place. 

But as no one else could be found in the town 
to protect him on better terms, he had at last to 
return, and in exchange for the sum demanded 



THE PROTECTION SYSTEM 251 

received a paper inscribed on one side in Arabic, 
and on the other in English, as follows : — 

"Vice-Consulate for Great Britain, 

"Mazagan, Oct. 5, 1838. 

" This is to certify that Abd Allah bin Boo Shaib 
es-Sdlih^ resident at A'in Haloo in the province of 
Rahdmna^ has been duly appointed agent of Edward 
Vecchio^ a British subject., residing in Mazagan : all 
authorities will respect him according to existing 
treaties, not molesting him without proper notice to 
this Vice-Consulate.^ 

^^Gratuf^ [Signed] "JOHN SMITH. 

V J''H.B.M:s Vice-Consul, Mazagan!' 

* A genuine " patent of protection," as prescribed by treaty, sup- 
posed to be granted only to wholesale traders, whereas every beggar 
can obtain " certificates of partnership." The native in question has 
then only to appear before the notaries and state that he has in 
his possession so much grain, or so many oxen or cattle, belonging to 
a certain European, who takes them as his remuneration for present- 
ing the notarial document at his Legation, and obtaining the desired 
certificate. Moreover, he receives half the produce of the property 
thus made over to him. This is popularly known as "farming in 
Morocco." 



XXVIII 
JUSTICE FOR THE JEW 

" Sleep on anger, and thou wilt not rise repentant." 

Moorish Proverb. 

The kaid sat in his seat of office, or one might 
rather say reclined, for Moorish officials have a 
habit of lying in two ways at once when they are 
supposed to be doing justice. Strictly speaking, his 
position was a sort of halfway one, his back being 
raised by a pile of cushions, with his right leg drawn 
up before him, as he leant on his left elbow. His 
judgement seat was a veritable wool-sack, or rather 
mattress, placed across the left end of a long narrow 
room, some eight feet by twenty, with a big door in 
the centre of one side. The only other apertures in 
the whitewashed but dirty walls were a number of^ 
ventilating loop-holes, splayed on the inside, ten 
feet out of the twelve above the floor. This was 
of worn octagonal tiles, in parts covered with a 
yellow rush mat in an advanced state of consumption. 
Notwithstanding the fact that the ceiling was of 
some dark colour, hard to be defined at its present 
age, the audience-chamber was amply lighted from 
the lofty horse-shoe archway of the entrance, for 
sunshine is reflection in Morocco to a degree un- 
known in northern climes. 

On the wall above the head of the kaid hung a 
252 



JUSTICE FOR THE JEW 253 

couple of huge and antiquated horse-pistols, while 
on a small round table at his feet, some six inches 
high, lay a collection of cartridges and gunsmith's 
tools. Behind him, on a rack, were half a dozen 
long flint-lock muskets, and on the wall by his feet 
a number of Moorish daggers and swords. In his 
hand the governor fondled a European revolver, 
poking out and replacing the charges occasionally, 
just to show that it was loaded. 

His personal attire, though rich in quality, ill 
became his gawky figure, and there was that about 
his badly folded turban which bespoke the parvenu. 
Like the muzzle of some wolf, his pock-marked 
visage glowered on a couple of prostrated litigants 
before him, as they fiercely strove to prove each 
other wrong. Near his feet was squatted his private 
secretary, and at the door stood policemen awaiting 
instructions to imprison one or both of the contend- 
ing parties. The dispute was over the straying of 
some cattle, a paltry claim for damages. The 
plaintiff having presented the kaid with a loaf of 
sugar and a pound of candles, was in a fair way to 
win his case, when a suggestive sign on the part of 
the defendant, comprehended by the judge as a 
promise of a greater bribe, somewhat upset his cal- 
culations, for he was summarily fined a couple of 
dollars, and ordered to pay another half dollar costs 
for having allowed the gate of his garden to stand 
open, thereby inviting his neighbour's cattle to enter. 
Without a word he was carried off to gaol pending 
payment, while the defendant settled with the judge 
and left the court. 

Into the midst of this scene came another police- 
man, gripping by the arm a poor Jewish seamstress 



254 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

named Mesaodah. who had had the temerity to use 
insulting- langiiai:ie to her captor when that functionary 
was upbraiding- her for not having completed some 
garment when ordered, though he insisted on paying- 
only half-price, declaring that it was for the governor. 
The Jewess had hardly spoken when she lay sprawl- 
ing on the ground from a blow which she dare not, 
under any provocation, return, but her temper had 
so far gained the mastery over her, that as she rose 
she cursed her tormentor roundly. That was enough ; 
without more ado the man had laid his powerful 
arm upon her. and was dragging her to his master's 
presence, knowing how welcome any such case 
would be. even though it was not one out of which 
he might hope to make money. 

Reckless of the governor's well-known character, 
Mesaddah at once opened her mouth to complain 
against INIahmood, pitching her voice in the terrible 
key of her kind. 

" My Lord, may God bless thee and lengthen . . ." 

A fierce shake from her captor interrupted the 
sentence, but did not keep her quiet, for immediately 
she continued, in pleading tones, as best she could, 
struggling the while to keep her mouth free from 
the wretch's hand. 

'* Protect me, I pray thee, from this cruel man ; 
he has struck me : yes, my Lord." 

*' Strike her again if she doesn't stop that noise," 
cried the kaid, and as the man raised his hand to 
threaten her she saw there was no hope, and her 
legs giving way beneath her, she sank to the ground 
in tears. 

" For God's sake, yes, my Lord, have mercy on 
thine handmaid." It was pitiful to hear the altered 



JUSTICE FOR THE JEW 255 

tones, and it needed the heart of a brute to reply as 
did the governor, unmoved, by harshly asking what 
she had been up to. 

** She's a thief, my Lord, a liar, like all her people ; 
God burn their religion ; I gave her a waistcoat to 
make a week ago, and I purposed it for a present 
to thee, my Lord, but she has made away with the 
stuff, and when I went for it she abused me, and, 
by thy leave, thee also, my Lord ; here she is to be 
punished." 

" It's a lie, my Lord ; the stuff is in my hut, and 
the waistcoat's half done, but I knew I should never 
get paid for it, so had to get some other work done 
to keep my children from starving, for 1 am a widow. 
Have mercy on me ! " 

"God curse the liar ! I have spoken the truth," 
broke in the policeman. 

" Fetch a basket for her ! " ordered the kaid, and 
in another moment a second attendant was assisting 
Mahmood to force the struggling woman to sit in a 
large and pliable basket of palmetto, the handles of 
which were quickly lashed across her stomach. She 
was then thrown shrieking on her back, her bare 
legs lifted high, and tied to a short piece of pole 
just in front of the ankles ; one man seized each 
end of this, a third awaiting the governor's orders 
to strike the soles. In his hand he had a short- 
handled lash made of twisted thongs from Tafildlt, 
well soaked in water. The efforts of the victim to 
attack the men on either side becoming violent, a 
delay was caused by having to tie her hands together, 
her loud shrieks rending the air the while. 

" Give her a hundred," said the kaid, beginning 
to count as the blows descended, giving fresh edge 



256 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

to the piercing yells, interspersed with piteous cries 
for mercy, and ribbing the skin in long red lines, 
which were soon lost in one raw mass of bleeding 
flesh. As the arm of one wearied, another took his 
place, and a bucket of cold water was thrown over 
the victim's legs. At first her face had been ashy 
pale, it was now livid from the blood descending to 
it, as her legs grew white all but the soles, which 
were already turning purple under the cruel lash. 
Then merciful unconsciousness stepped in, and 
silence supervened. 

" That will do," said the governor, having counted 
eighty-nine. " Take her away ; she'll know better 
next time ! " and he proceeded with the cases before 
him, fining this one, imprisoning that, and bastinado- 
ing a third, with as little concern as an English 
registrar would sign an order to pay a guinea fine. 
Indeed, why should he do otherwise. This was his 
regular morning's work. It was a month before 
Mesaodah could touch the ground with her feet, 
and more than three before she could totter along 
with two sticks. Her children were kept alive by 
her neighbours till she could sit up and " stitch, 
stitch, stitch," but there was no one to hear her 
bitter complaint, and no one to dry her tears. 

One day his faithful henchman dragged before 
the kaid a Jewish broker, whose crime of having 
bid against that functionary on the market, when 
purchasing supplies for his master, had to be ex- 
piated by a fine of twenty dollars, or a hundred 
lashes. The misguided wretch chose the latter, 
loving his coins too well; but after the first half- 
dozen had descended on his naked soles, he cried 
for mercy and agreed to pay. 



JUSTICE FOR THE JEW 257 

Another day it was a more wealthy member of 
the community who was summoned on a serious 
charge. The kaid produced a letter addressed to 
the prisoner, which he said had been intercepted, 
couched in the woefully corrupted Arabic of the 
Moorish Jews, but in the cursive Hebrew character. 

" Canst read, O Moses ? " asked the kaid, in a 
surly tone. 

" Certainly, yes, my Lord, may God protect thee, 
when the writing is in the sacred script." 

" Read that aloud, then," handing him the 
missive. 

Moses commenced by rapidly glancing his eye 
down the page, and as he did so his face grew pale, 
his hand shook, and he muttered something in the 
Hebrew tongue as the kaid sharply ordered him to 
proceed. 

" My Lord, yes, my Lord ; it is false, it is a fraud," 
he stammered. 

" The Devil take thee, thou son of a dog ; 
read what is set before thee, and let us have none 
of thy impudence. The gaol is handy." 

With a trembling voice Moses the usurer read 
the letter, purporting to have been written by an 
intimate friend in Mogador, and implying by its 
contents that Moses had, when in that town some 
years ago, embraced the faith of Isldm, from which 
he was therefore now a pervert, and consequently 
under pain of death. He was already crouched 
upon the ground, as is the custom before a great 
man, but as he spelled out slowly the damnatory 
words, he had to stretch forth his hands to keep 
from falling over. He knew that there was nothing 
to be gained by denial, by assurances that the letter 

s 



258 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

was a forgery ; the kaid's manner indicated plainly 
enough that he meant to be satisfied with it, and 
there was no appeal. 

" Moses," said the kaid, in a mock confidential 
tone, as he took back the letter, " thou'rt in my 
power. All that thou hast is mine. With such 
evidence against thee as this thy very head is in my 
hands. If thou art wise, and wilt share thy fortune 
with me, all shall go well ; if not, thou knowest what 
to expect. I am to-day in need of a hundred dollars. 
Now go ! " 

An hour had not elapsed before, with a heart 
still heavier than the bag he carried, Moses crossed 
the courtyard again, and deposited the sum required 
in the hands of the kaid, with fresh assurances of 
his innocence, imploring the destruction of that fatal 
document, which was readily promised, though with 
no intention of complying with the request, notwith- 
standing that to procure another as that had been 
procured would cost but a trifle. 

These are only instances which could be multi- 
plied of how the Jews of Morocco suffer at the 
hands of brutal officials. As metal which attracts 
the electricity from a thunder-cloud, so they invari- 
ably suffer first when a newly appointed, conscience- 
less governor comes to rule. 

With all his faults the previous kaid had recog- 
nized how closely bound up with that of the 
Moors under his jurisdiction was the welfare of 
Jews similarly situated, so that, favoured by his 
wise administration, their numbers and their wealth 
had increased till, though in outward appearance 
beggarly, they formed an important section of the 
community. The new kaid, however, saw in them 



JUSTICE FOR THE JEW 259 

but a possible mine, a goose that laid golden eggs, 
so, like the fool of the story, he set about destroying 
it when the supply of eggs fell off, for there was of 
necessity a limit to the repeated offerings which, on 
one pretext or another, he extorted from these 
luckless "tributaries," as they are described in 
Moorish legal documents. 

When he found that ordinary means of per- 
suasion failed, he had resort to more drastic 
measures. He could not imagine fresh feasts and 
public occasions, auspicious or otherwise, on which to 
collect "presents" from them, so he satisfied him- 
self by bringing specious charges against the more 
wealthy Jews and fining them, as well as by en- 
couraging Moors to accuse them in various ways. 
Many of the payments to the governor being in 
small and mutilated coin, every Friday he sent to 
the Jews what he had received during the week, 
demanding a round sum in Spanish dollars, far 
more than their fair value. Then when he had 
forced upon them a considerable quantity of this 
depreciated stuff, he would send a crier round 
notifying the public that it was out of circulation 
and no longer legal tender, moreover giving warn- 
ing that the " Jew's money" was not to be trusted, 
as it was known that they had counterfeit coins in 
their possession. It was then time to offer them half 
price for it, which they had no option but to accept, 
though some while later he would re-issue it at its 
full value, and having permitted its circulation, would 
force it upon them again. 

The repairs which it was found necessary to 
effect in the kasbah, the equipment of troops, the 
contributions to the expenses of the Sultan's 



2 6o LIFE IN MOROCCO 

expeditions, or the payment of indemnities to foreign 
nations, were constantly recurring pretexts for levy- 
ing fresh sums from the Jews as well as from 
the Moors, and these were the legal ones. The 
illegal were too harrowing for description. Young 
children and old men were brutally thrashed and 
then imprisoned till they or their friends paid heavy 
ransoms, and even the women occasionally suffered 
in this way. On Sabbaths and fast days orders 
would be issued to the Jews, irrespective of age or 
rank, to perform heavy work for the governor, 
perhaps to drag some heavy load or block of stone. 
Those who could buy themselves off were fortunate : 
those who could not do so were harnessed and 
driven like cattle under the lashes of yard-long 
whips, being compelled when their work was done 
to pay their taskmasters. Indeed, it was Egypt 
over again, but there was no Moses. Men or 
women found with shoes on were bastinadoed 
and heavily fined, and on more than one occasion 
the sons of the best-off Israelites were arrested in 
school on the charge of having used disrespectful 
language regarding the Sultan, and thrown into 
prison chained head and feet, in such a manner that 
it was impossible to stretch their bodies. Thus 
they were left for days without food, all but dead, 
in spite of the desire of their relatives to support 
them, till ransoms of two hundred dollars apiece 
could be raised to obtain their release, in some cases 
three months after their incarceration. 



XXIX 
CIVIL WAR IN MOROCCO 

" Wound of speech is worse than wound of sword." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Spies were already afield when the sun rose this 
morning, and while their return with the required 
information was eagerly expected, those of Asni 
who would be warriors took a hasty breakfast and 
looked to their horses and guns. 

Directly intelligence as to the whereabouts of 
the Ait Mizan arrived, the cavalcade set forth, per- 
force in Indian file, on account of the narrow single 
track, but wherever it was possible those behind 
pressed forward and passed their comrades in their 
eagerness to reach the scene of action. No idea of 
order or military display crossed their minds, and 
but for the skirmishers who scoured the country 
round as they advanced, it would have been easy 
for a concealed foe to have picked them off one by 
one. Nevertheless they made a gallant show in the 
morning sun, which glinted on their ornamented 
stirrups and their flint-locks, held like lances, with 
the butts upon the pummels before them. The 
varied colours of their trappings, though old and 
worn, looked gay by the side of the red cloth- 
covered saddles and the gun-cases of similar 
material used by many as turbans. But for the 

261 



262 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

serious expression on the faces of the majority, and 
the eager scanning of each knoll and shrub, the 
party might have been intent on powder-play in- 
stead of powder-business. 

For a mile or two no sign of human being was 
seen, and the ride was already growing wearisome 
when a sudden report on their right was followed 
by the heavy fall of one of their number, his well- 
trained horse standing still for him to re-mount, 
though he would never more do so. Nothing but a 
puff of smoke showed whence the shot had come, 
some way up the face of a hill. The first impulse 
was to make a charge in that direction, and to fire a 
volley ; but the experience of the leader reminded 
him that if there were only one man there it would 
not be worth while, and if there were more they 
might fall into an ambush. So their file passed on 
while the scouts rode towards the hill slope. A 
few moments later one of these had his horse shot 
under him, and then a volley was fired which took 
little effect on the advancing horsemen, still too far 
away for successful aim. 

They had been carefully skirting a wooded 
patch which might give shelter to their foes, whom 
they soon discovered to be lying in trenches behind 
the first hill-crests. Unless they were dislodged, it 
would be almost impossible to proceed, so, making a 
rapid flank movement, the Asni party spurred their 
horses and galloped round to gain the hills above 
the hidden enemy. As they did so random shots 
were discharged, and when they approached the 
level of the trenches, they commenced a series of 
rushes forward, till they came within range. In 
doing so they followed zig-zag routes to baffle aim. 



CIVIL WAR IN MOROCCO 263 

firing directly they made out the whereabouts of 
their assailants, and beating a hasty retreat. What 
success they were achieving they could not tell, but 
their own losses were not heavy. 

Soon, as their firing increased, that from the 
trenches which they were gradually approaching 
grew less, and fresh shots from behind awoke them 
to the fact that the enemy was making a rear 
attack. By this time they were in great disorder, 
scattered over a wide area ; the majority had gained 
the slight cover of the brushwood to their rear, and 
a wide space separated them from the new arrivals, 
who were performing towards them the same wild 
rushes that they themselves had made towards the 
trenches. They were therefore divided roughly 
into two divisions, the footmen in the shelter of the 
shrubs, the horsemen engaging the mounted enemy. 

Among the brushwood hardly was the figure 
of friend or foe discernible, for all lay down 
behind any available shelter, crawling from point to 
point like so many caterpillars, but firing quickly 
enough when an enemy was sighted, This style of 
warfare has its advantages, for it greatly diminishes 
losses on either side. For the horsemen, deprived 
of such shelter, safety lay in rapid movements and 
unexpected evolutions, each man acting for himself, 
and keeping as far away from his comrades as 
possible. So easily were captures made that it 
almost seemed as if many preferred surrender and 
safety to the chances of war, for they knew that 
they were sure of honourable treatment on both 
sides. The prisoners were not even bound, but 
merely disarmed and marched to the rear, to be 
conveyed at night in a peaceful manner to their 



264 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

captors' tents and huts, there to be treated as guests 
till peace should result in exchange. 

By this time the combatants were scattered over 
a square mile or so, and though the horsemen of 
Asni had driven the Ait Mizan from the foremost 
trenches by the bold rushes described, and their 
footmen had engaged them, no further advantage 
seemed likely to accrue, while they were terribly 
harassed by those who still remained under cover. 
The signal was therefore given for a preconcerted 
retreat, which at once began. Loud shouts of an 
expected victory now arose from the Ai't Mizan, 
who were gradually drawn from their hiding-places 
by their desire to secure nearer shots at the men 
of Asni as they slowly descended the hill. 

At length the Ait Mizan began to draw some- 
what to one side, as they discovered that they were 
being led too far into the open, but this move- 
ment was outwitted by the Asni horsemen, who 
were now pouring down on the scene. The 
wildest confusion supervened ; many fell on every 
hand. Victory was now assured to Asni, which the 
enemy were quick to recognize, and as the sun was 
by this time at blazing noon, and energy grew 
slack on both sides, none was loth to call a confer- 
ence. This resulted in an agreement by the van- 
quished to return the stolen cattle which had 
formed the castes belli, for indeed they were no 
longer able to protect them from their real owners. 
As many more were forfeited by way of damages, 
and messages were despatched to the women left in 
charge to hand them over to a party of the victors. 
Prisoners were meantime exchanged, while through 
the medium of the local " holy man " a peace was 



CIVIL WAR IN MOROCCO 265 

formally ratified, after which each party returned 
to its dead, who were quickly consigned to their 
shallow graves. 

Such of the Asni men as were not mourners, 
now assembled in the open space of their village to 
be feasted by their women as victors. Basins, some 
two feet across, were placed on the ground filled 
with steaming kesk'soo. Round each of these por- 
tions sat cross-legged some eight or ten of the men, 
and a metal bowl of water was handed from one to 
the other to rinse the fingers of the right hand. 
They sat upon rude blankets spread on mats, the 
scene lit by Roman-like olive-oil lamps, and a few 
French candles round the board of the sheikh and 
allied leaders. 

A striking picture, indeed, they presented, there 
in the still night air, thousands of heaven-lights 
gleaming from the dark-blue vault above, out- 
rivalling the flicker of those simple earth-flames on 
their lined and sun-burnt faces. The women who 
waited on them, all of middle age, alone remained 
erect, as they glided about on their bare feet, carry- 
ing bowl and towel from man to man. From the 
huts and the tents around came many strange 
sounds of bird, beast, and baby, for the cocks were 
already crowing, as it was growing late,* while the 
dogs bayed at the shadow of the cactus and the 
weird shriek of the night-bird. 

" B'ism Illah ! " exclaimed the host at each basin 
('* In the Name of God ! ") — as he would ask a bless- 
ing — when he finished breaking bread for his circle, 
and plunged his first sop in the gravy. " B'ism Illah !" 
they all replied, and followed suit in a startlingly 

* A way they have in Barbary. 



266 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

sudden silence wherein naught but the stowing 
away of food could be heard, till one of them burnt 
his fingers by an injudiciously deep dive into the 
centre after a toothsome morsel. 

In the midst of a sea of broth rose mountains 
of steamed and buttered kesk'soo, in the craters 
of which had been placed the contents of the 
stew-pot, the disjointed bones of chickens with 
onions and abundant broad beans. The gravy was 
eaten daintily with sops of bread, conveyed to the 
mouth in a masterly manner without spilling a drop, 
while the kesk'soo was moulded in the palm of 
the right hand into convenient sized balls and 
shot into the mouth by the thumb. The meat 
was divided with the thumb and fingers of the right 
hand alone, since the left may touch no food. 

At last one by one sat back, his greasy hand 
outstretched, and after taking a sip of cold water 
from the common jug with his left, and licking his 
right to prevent the waste of one precious grain, 
each washed his hands, rinsed his mouth thrice, 
polished his teeth with his right forefinger, and felt 
ready to begin again, all agreeing that " he who is not 
first at the powder, should not be last at the dish." 



XXX 

THE POLITICAL SITUATION 

"A guess of the informed is better than the assurance of the ignorant." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Ever since the accession of the present Sultan, 
Mulai Abd el Aziz IV., on his attaining the age 
of twenty in 1900, Morocco has been more than 
ever the focus of foreign designs, both public and 
private, which have brought about a much more 
disturbed condition than under his father, or even 
under the subsequent Wazeer Regent. The mani- 
fest friendlessness of the youth, his lack of training 
for so important a part, and the venality of his 
entourage, at once attracted birds of prey, and they 
have worked their will. 

Since the death of El Hasan III., in 1894, the 
administration had been controlled by the former 
Lord High Chamberlain, or " Curtain " of the 
shareefian throne, whose rule was severe, though 
good, and it seemed doubtful whether he would 
relinquish the reins of authority. The other 
wazeers whom his former master had left in office 
had been imprisoned on various charges, and he 
stood supreme. He was, however, old and enfeebled 
by illness, so when in 1900 his end came instead of 
his resignation, few were surprised. What they 
were not quite prepared for, however, was the 

267 



268 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

clearing of the board within a week or two by the 
death of his two brothers and a cousin, whom he had 
promoted to be respectively Commander-in-chief, 
Chamberlain, and Master of the Ceremonies — all of 
them, it was declared, by influenza. Another brother 
had died but a short while before, and the com- 
missioner sent to Tangier to arrange matters with 
the French was found dead in his room — from 
asphyxia caused by burning charcoal. Thus was 
the Cabinet dissolved, and the only remaining 
member resigned. There then rose suddenly to 
power a hitherto unheard of Arab of the South, El 
Menebhi, who essayed too much in acting as Am- 
bassador to London while still Minister of War, and 
returned to find his position undermined ; he has 
since emigrated to Egypt. It was freely asserted 
that the depletion of the Moorish exchequer was 
due to his peculation, resulting in his shipping a 
large fortune to England in specie, with the assist- 
ance of British officials who were supposed to have 
received a handsome " consideration " in addition to 
an enormous price paid for British protection. Thus, 
amid a typically Moorish cloud, he left the scene. 
From that time the Court has been the centre of kalei- 
doscopic intrigues, which have seriously hampered 
administration, but which were not in themselves 
sufficient to disturb the country. 

What was of infinitely greater moment was the 
eagerness with which the young ruler, urged by his 
Circassian mother, sought advice and counsel from 
Europe, and endeavoured to act up to it. One 
disinterested and trusted friend at that juncture 
would have meant the regeneration of the Empire, 
provided that interference from outside were stayed. 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION 269 

But this was not to be. The few impartial in- 
dividuals who had access to the Sultan were out- 
numbered by the horde of politicians, diplomats, 
adventurers, and schemers who surrounded him, the 
latter at least freely bribing wazeers to obtain their 
ends. In spite of an unquestionable desire to do 
what was best for his country, and to act upon the 
good among the proffered advice, wild extravagance 
resulted both in action and expenditure. 

Thus Mulai Abd el Aziz became the laughing- 
stock of Europe, and the butt of his people s scorn. 
His heart was with the foreigners — with dancing 
women and photographers, — he had been seen in 
trousers, even on a bicycle ! What might he not 
do next? A man so implicated with unbelievers 
could hardly be a faithful Muslim, said the discon- 
tented. No more efficacious text could have been 
found to rouse fanaticism and create dissatisfaction 
throughout his dominions. Black looks accom- 
panied the mention of his name, and it was 
whispered that the Leader of the Faithful was 
selling himself and his Empire, if not to the Devil, 
at least to the Nazarenes, which was just as bad. 
Any other country would have been ripe for rebel- 
lion, as Europe supposed that Morocco was, but 
scattered and conflicting interests defeated all 
attempts to induce a general rising. 

One of the wisest measures of the new reign 
was the attempt to reorganize finances in accord-, 
ance with English advice, by the systematic levy of 
taxes hitherto imposed in the arbitrary fashion 
described in Chapter II. This was hailed with 
delight, and had it been maintained by a strong 
Government, would have worked wonders in 



270 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

restoring prosperity. But iox^xgn protegis refused to 
pay, and objections of all sorts were raised, till at 
last the "terteeb," as it was called, became im- 
possible of collection without recourse to arms. 
Fearing this, the money in hand to pay the tax 
was expended on guns and cartridges, which the 
increasing demand led foreigners to smuggle in by 
the thousand. 

It is estimated that some millions of fire-arms — 
a large proportion of them repeating rifles with a 
large supply of ammunition — are now in the hands 
of the people, while the Government has never been 
worse supplied than at present. Ship-load after 
ship-load has been landed on the coast in defiance 
of all authority, and large consignments have been 
introduced over the Algerian frontier, the state of 
which has in consequence become more than ever 
unsettled. In short, the benign intentions of Mulai 
Abd el Aziz have been interpreted as weakness, 
and once again the Nazarenes are accused — to 
quote a recent remark of an Atlas scribe — of having 
" spoiled the Sultan," and of being about to " spoil 
the country." 

Active among the promoters of dissatisfaction 
have been throughout the Idreesi Shareefs, repre- 
sentatives of the original Muslim dynasty in 
Morocco ; venerated for their ancestry and adher- 
ence to all that is retrogressive or bigoted, and on 
principle opposed to the reigning dynasty. These 
leaders of discontent find able allies in the Alge- 
rians in Morocco, some of whom settled there years 
ago because sharing their feelings and determined 
not to submit to the French ; but of whom others, 
while expressing equal devotion to the old order, 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION 271 

can from personal experience recommend the ad- 
vantages of French administration, to which even 
their exiled brethren or their descendants no longer 
feel equal objection. 

The summary punishment inflicted a few years 
ago on the murderer of an Englishman in the 
streets of Fez was, like everything else, persistently 
misinterpreted through the country. In the distant 
provinces the story — as reported by natives there- 
from — ran that the Nazarene had been shot by a 
saint while attempting to enter and desecrate the 
sacred shrine of Mulai I drees, and that by executing 
him the Sultan showed himself an Unbeliever. 
When British engineers were employed to survey 
the route for a railway between Fez and Mequinez 
this was reported as indicating an absolute sale of 
the country, and the people were again stirred up, 
though not to actual strife. 

Only in the semi-independent district of the 
Ghaidta Berbers between Fez and Tdza, which had 
never been entirely subjugated, did a flame break out. 
A successful writer of amulets, hitherto unknown, 
one Jelalli Zarhoni, who had acquired a great local 
reputation, began to denounce the Sultan's be- 
haviour with religious fervour. Calling on the 
neighbouring tribesmen to refuse allegiance to so 
unworthy a monarch, he ultimately raised the 
standard of revolt in the name of the Sultan's im- 
prisoned elder brother, M 'hammed. Finally, the 
rumour ran that this prince had escaped and joined 
Jeldlli, who, from his habitual prophet's mount, is 
better known throughout the country as Boo 
Hamdra — ** Father of the She-ass." According to 
the official statement, Jeldlli Zarhoni was originally 



272 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

a policeman (makhazni), whose bitterness and sub- 
sequent sedition arose from ill-treatment then 
received. Although exalted in newspaper reports 
to the dignity of a '' pretender," in Morocco he 
is best known as the " Rogi " or " Common One." 

Fez clamoured to see M 'hammed, that the story- 
might be disproved, and after much delay, during 
which he was supposed to be conveyed from 
Mequinez, a veiled and guarded rider arrived, 
preceded by criers who proclaimed him to be the 
Sultan's brother. But as no one could be sure if 
this were the case or not, each party believed what 
it wished, and Jeldlli's hands were strengthened. 
Boldly announcing the presence with him of Mulai 
M'hammed, in his name he sought and obtained 
the allegiance of tribe after tribe. Although the 
Sultan effected a reconciliation with his presumed 
brother — whose movements, however, still remain 
restricted — serious men believe him to be in the 
rebel camp, and few know the truth. 

At first success attended the rebellion, but it 
never spread beyond the unsettled eastern provinces, 
and after three years it ineffectually smoulders on, 
the leader cooped up by the Sultan's forces near the 
coast, though the Sultan is not strong enough to 
stamp it out. 

By those whose knowledge of the country is 
limited to newspaper news a much more serious 
state of affairs is supposed to exist, a " pretender " 
collecting his forces for a final coup, etc. Some- 
thing of truth there may be in this, but the situation 
is grossly exaggerated. The local rising of a few 
tribes in eastern Morocco never affected the rest 
of the Empire, save by that feeling of unrest which, 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION 273 

in the absence of complete information, jumps at all 
tales. Even the so-called " rout " of an " imperial 
army " three years ago was only a stampede with- 
out fighting, brought about by a clever ruse, and 
there has never been a serious conflict throughout 
the affair, through the " Rogi " is well supplied with 
arms from Algeria, and his " forces " are led by a 
Frenchman, M. Delbrel. Meanwhile comparative 
order reigns in the disaffected district, though in the 
north, usually the most peaceful portion of the 
Empire, all is disturbed. 

There a leader has arisen, Raisuli by name, who 
obtained redress for the wrongs of tribes south of 
Tangier, and his own appointment as their kaid, by 
the astute device of carrying off as hostages an 
American and an Englishman, so that the pressure 
certain to be brought to bear by their Governments 
would compel the Sultan to grant his demands. 
All turned out as he had hoped, and the condign 
punishment which he deserves is yet far off, though 
a local struggle continues between him and a small 
imperial force, complicated by feuds between his 
sometime supporters, who, however, fight half- 
heartedly, for fear of killing relatives pressed into 
service on the other side. Those who once looked 
to Raisuli as a champion have found his little finger 
thicker than the Sultan's loins, and the country 
round Tangier is ruined by taxation, so that every 
one is discontented, and the district is unsafe, a 
species of civil war raging. 

The full name of this redoubtable leader is 
Mulai Ahmad bin Mohammed bin Abd Allah er- 
Raisuli, and he is a shareef of Beni Aros, connected 
therefore with the Wazzan shareefs ; but his prestige 

T 



274 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

as such is low, both on account of his past career, 
and because of his accetpance of a civil post. His 
mother belonged to Anjera, near Tangier, where 
he was born about thirty-six years ago at the village 
of Zeendt, being well educated, as education goes in 
Morocco, with the Beni M'sawah. But falling into 
bad company, he first took to cattle-lifting, after- 
wards turning highwayman, as which he was 
eventually caught by the Abd es-Sadok family — 
various members of which were kaids from Ceuta 
to Azila — and consigned to prison in Mogadon 
After three or four years his release was obtained 
by Haj Torres, the Foreign Commissioner in Tan- 
gier, but when he found that the Abd es-Sadoks 
had sequestrated his property, he vowed not to cut 
his hair till he had secured their disgrace. Hence, 
with locks that many a woman might envy, he has 
plotted and harassed till his present position has 
been achieved. But as this is only a means to an 
end, who can tell what that may be ? 

Raisuli is allowed on all hands to be a peculiarly 
able and well-bred man, full of resource and deter- 
mination. Though his foes have succeeded in kid- 
napping even his mother, it will certainly be a 
miracle if he is taken alive. Should all fail him, he 
is prepared to blow his brains out, or make use of a 
small phial of poison always to hand. It is interest- 
ing to remember that just such a character, Abd 
Allah Ghaildn, held a similar position in this district 
when Tangier was occupied by the English, who 
knew him as " Guyland," and paid him tribute. 
The more recent imitation of Raisuli's tactics by a 
native free-booter of the Ceuta frontier, in arresting 
two English officers as hostages wherewith to secure 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION 275 

the release of his brother and others from prison, 
has proved equally successful, but as matters stand 
at present, it is more than doubtful whether the 
Moorish Government is in a position to bring either 
of these offenders to book, and the outlook in the 
north is decidedly stormy. It is, indeed, quite in 
accordance with the traditions of Moorish history, 
throughout which these periods of local disorganiza- 
tion have been of constant recurrence without danger 
to the State. 

In the south things are quiet, though a spirit of 
unrest pervades the people, especially since it has 
been seen that the Sultan no longer either collects 
the regular taxes or maintains the regular army. 
There the immediate result of the failure to collect 
the taxes for a year or two was that the people had 
more to spend on cattle and other stock, which 
rapidly rose in price, no one needing to sell unless 
he wished. Within the last two years, however, 
the kaids have recommenced their oppressive treat- 
ment, under the pretext of a levy to put down the 
rising in the eastern provinces. Men and money 
were several times furnished, but though now more 
difficult to raise, the demands continue. The 
wonder is that the people remain so quiet, but they 
are of a more peaceable nature than the Berbers of 
the north. 

Three of the Sultan's brothers have been for 
some time camped in as many centres, engaged in 
collecting funds, but tribe after tribe has refused to 
pay, declaring that they have been exempted by 
their lord, and until he returns they will submit to 
no kaid and pay no dues. It is only in certain 
districts that some of the funds demanded have 



276 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

been forthcoming, and the kaids have full authority, 
but these are officials of long standing and great 
repute, whose jurisdiction has been much extended 
in consequence. Changes among the less Impor- 
tant kaids have been continual of late. One man 
would buy the office and struggle to establish him- 
self, only to find a new man installed over his head 
before he was settled, which has frequently led to 
local disorders, fighting and plundering. In this 
way the Government has quite lost prestige, and a 
strong hand Is awaited. 

The Moors would have preferred another 
Ismail the Bloodthirsty, who could compel his will, 
and awe all other rascals in his dominions, to the 
mild and well-intentioned youth now at the helm. 
Some would even welcome any change that would 
put an end to present insecurity, but only the 
French proteges desire to see that change effected 
by France, and only those under the German flag 
already would hail that with joy. The Jews alone 
would welcome any, as they have good cause to do. 

Such was already the condition of things when 
the long-threatening clouds burst, and the Anglo- 
French Agreement was published in April, 1904. 
Rumours of negotiations for the sale of British 
interests in Morocco to France had for some time 
filled the air, but in face of official denials, and the 
great esteem in which England was held by the 
Moors, few gave credence to them. Mulai Abd el 
Aziz had relied especially on Great Britain, and 
had confidently looked to it for protection against 
the French ; the announcement of the bargain 
between them broke him down. 

It may have been inevitable ; and since an 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION 277 

agreement among all the Powers concerned was so 
remote a possibility, an understanding between the 
three most interested may have been the wisest 
course, in view of pending internal troubles which 
would certainly afford excuses for interference. It 
was undoubtedly good policy on their part to decide 
who should inherit the vineyard, and on what terms, 
that conflict between them might be avoided. But 
on the unconsulted victim it came a cruel blow, 
unexpected and indefensible. It is important not 
to forget this. 

But the one absorbing thought of all for nearly 
a year past has been the drought and consequent 
famine. Between November, 1904, and October, 
1905, there was practically no rainfall over a large 
portion of the country, and agriculture being inter- 
fered with, grain rose to five times its normal price. 
Although relief has now come, it will be months 
before the cattle are in proper condition again, and 
not till after next year's harvest in May and June, 
should it prove a good one, will contentment be 
restored. Under such conditions, though more 
ready than ever to grumble, the people have had 
no heart to fight, which has, to some degree, assisted 
in keeping them quiet. The famine has, however, 
tried them sore, and only increased their exasperation. 

Added to this, the general feeling of dissatisfac- 
tion regarding the Sultan's foreign predilections, and 
the slumbering fanaticism of the " learned " class, 
there is now a chronic lack of funds. The money 
which should have been raised by taxation has been 
borrowed abroad and ruthlessly scattered. Fortunes 
have been made by foreigners and natives alike, 
but the Sultan is all but bankrupt. Yet never was 



278 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

his entourage so rich, though many who to-day hold 
houses and lands were a few years ago penniless. 

As for the future, for many years the only 
answer possible to tediously frequent inquiries as 
to what was going to happen in Morocco has been 
that the future of the Shareefian Empire depended 
entirely on what might happen in Europe, not to 
any degree on its own internal condition. The 
only way in which this could affect the issue was 
by affording an excuse for outside interference, as 
in the present case. 

Corrupt as the native administration may be, it 
is but the expression of a corrupt population, and 
no native government, even in Europe, is ever far in 
advance of those over whom it rules. In spite, too, 
of the pressure of injustice on the individual here 
and there, the victim of to-day becomes the oppressor 
of to-morrow, and such opportunities are not to be 
surrendered without a protest. The vast majority 
is, therefore, always in favour of present conditions, 
and would rather the chances of internecine strife 
than an exotic peace. No foreign ruler, however 
benign, would be welcome, and no " penetration," 
however " pacific," but will be endured and resented 
as a hostile wound. Even the announcement of 
the Anglo-French Agreement was sufficient to 
gravely accentuate the disorders of the country, 
and threaten immediate complications with Europe, 
by provoking attacks on Europeans who had 
hitherto been safe from interference save under 
exceptional circumstances. A good deal of the 
present unrest is attributable to this cause alone. 

It is, therefore, a matter of deep regret that the 
one possible remedy — ^joint action of the Powers in 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION 279 

policing the Moors, as it were, by demanding essen- 
tial reforms in return for a united guarantee of 
territorial integrity — was rendered impossible by 
the rivalries between those Powers, especially on 
the part of France. Great Britain's step aside has 
made possible the only alternative, the surrender 
of the coveted task to one of their number, in 
return for such quid pro quo as each could obtain. 
Had the second-class Powers been bargained with 
first, not only would they have secured substantial 
terms, which now it is no use their asking, but the 
leading Powers could have held out for terms yet 
undreamed of. 

France did well to begin with Great Britain, 
but it was an egregious diplomatic error to over- 
look Germany, which was thereby promoted to 
the hitherto unhoped-for position of " next friend " 
and trusted adviser of Morocco. Up to that point 
Germany had played a waiting game so patiently 
that France fell into the trap, and gave her all she 
wanted. It is inconceivable how the astute politicians 
of the Quai d'Orsay committed such a blunder, save 
on the assumption that they were so carried away 
by the ease with which they had settled with Great 
Britain, that they forgot all other precautions — un- 
less it was that they feared to jeopardize the con- 
clusion of the main bargain by delay in discussing 
any subsidiary point. 

When the Agreement was made known, the 
writer pointed out in the Westminster Review, 
that, " Portugal, Italy and Austria have but to 
acquiesce and rest assured of the 'most favoured 
nation ' treatment, as will all the other Powers save 
one. That one, of course, is Germany, whose sole 



28o LIFE IN MOROCCO 

interest in Morocco is the possibility of placing a drag 
on France. She will have to be dealt with. Having 
disposed of England, which had real interests at 
stake, in the command of the straits and the main- 
tenance of Gibraltar, France should be able to 
accomplish this as well. Five and twenty years 
ago Germany had not even a commercial interest 
in Morocco, Great Britain did three-fourths of the 
trade, or more, France about a tenth, Spain and 
others dividing the crumbs between them. But an 
active commercial policy — by the encouragement 
and support of young firms in a way that made 
Britishers envious, and abusive of their own Foreign 
Office — has secured for Germany a growing share 
of the trade, till now she stands next to Great 
Britain, whose share is reduced to one-half." * 

After all, the interests of Germany in Morocco 

* It is curious, indeed, how little the German Empire or its com- 
ponent States figure in the history of diplomatic relations with 
Morocco. One has to go back to the time of Rudolf II., in 1604, to 
find an active policy in force with regard to Moroccan affairs, when 
that remarkable adventurer or international diplomatist, Sir Anthony 
Sherley, was accredited to Abd el Aziz III., the last of the Moorish 
rulers to bear the same name as the present one. This intrepid 
soldier, a man after the Kaiser's own heart, had been accredited to 
Germany by the great Shah of Persia, Abbas, whose confidence he 
had won to a marvellous degree, and he appears to have made as 
great an impression on Rudolf, who sent him as his envoy to Morocco. 
Arrived there, he astonished the natives by coolly riding into the court 
of audience — a privilege still reserved to the Sultan alone. But the 
Ameer, as he was called in those days, was too politic or too polite to 
raise the question, only taking care that the next time the " dog of a 
Christian " should find a chain stretched across the gateway. This 
Sir Anthony could not brook, so rode back threatening to break oft' 
negotiations, and it affords a striking lesson as to the right way of 
dealing with orientals, that even in those days the Moors should 
have yielded and imprisoned the porter, permitting Sir Anthony's 
entrance on horseback thereafter. The treaty he came to negotiate 
was concluded, and relations with the Germans were established on a 
right footing, but they have been little in evidence till recent years. 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION 281 

were but a trifling consideration, meaning much less 
to her than ours do to us, and it was evident that 
whatever position she might assume, however she 
might bluster, she, too, had her price. This not 
being perceived by the ill-informed Press of this 
country, the prey of political journalists in Paris, 
Cologne and Madrid — more recently even of Wash- 
ington, whence the delusive reports are now re- 
echoed with alarming reverberations — there was 
heated talk of war, and everything that newspapers 
could do to bring it about was done. Even a 
private visit of the Kaiser to Tangier, the only im- 
portant feature of which was the stir made about it, 
was utilized to fan the flame. However theatrical 
some of the political actions of Wilhelm II. may 
have been, here was a case in which, directly he 
perceived the capital being made of his visit, he 
curtailed it to express his disapprobation. It was 
in Tangier Bay that he received the newspaper 
cuttings on the subject, and although the visit was 
to have extended in any case but to a few hours, he 
at once decided not to land. It was only when it 
was urged upon him what disappointment this 
would cause to its thirty thousand inhabitants and 
visitors for the occasion, that he consented to pay 
one short visit to his Legation, abandoning the 
more important part of the programme, which in- 
cluded a climb to the citadel and an interchange of 
visits with a kinsman of the Sultan. Nothing more 
could have been done to emphasize the private 
nature of the visit, in reality of no greater moment 
than that of King Edward to Algeria almost at the 
same time. 

Neither such a personal visit, nor any other 



282 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

action should have been required to remind Great 
Britain and France that they and Spain alone were 
affected by their agreements, and that not even 
official notification to Morocco or the other Powers 
could restrict their perfect liberty of action. When, 
therefore, the distracted Sultan turned to Germany 
as the most influential Power still faithful to its 
undertakings, the response of Germany was per- 
fectly correct, as was his own action. But Germany, 
although prepared to meet him with a smile, and 
not averse to receiving crumbs in the form of 
concessions, had no more intention of embroiling 
herself on his behalf than Great Britain. Extra- 
ordinary rumours, however, pervaded the country, 
and the idea of German intervention was hailed with 
delight ; now general disappointment is felt, and 
Germany is classed with England among the traitors. 

Mulai Abd el Aziz had but one resource, to 
propose another conference of the Powers, assured 
that France and Germany would never come to an 
understanding, and that this would at least ward off 
the fatal day indefinitely. Yet now that France 
and Germany have agreed, it is probable that this 
step is regretted, and that, since the two have acted 
in concert, the Moorish Court has been at its wits' 
ends ; it would now regard as a God-send anything 
which might prevent the conference from being 
held, lest it should strengthen the accord among 
its enemies, and weaken its own position. 

The diplomatic negotiations between Fez, Berlin, 
and Paris have been of a character normal under the 
circumstances ; and as the bickerings and insinuations 
which accompanied them were foreign to Morocco, 
the Sultan's invitation only serving as an opportunity 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION 283 

for arriving at an understanding, they need not be 
dwelt on here. It is the French Press which has 
stirred up the commotion, and has misled the British 
Public into the belief that there has been some 
" Morocco Tangle." The facts are simply these : 
since 1880, the date of the Madrid Convention 
regarding the vexed question of foreign rights of 
protecting natives and holding property in Morocco, 
all nations concerned have been placed on an equal 
footing in their dealings with that country. The 
" most favoured nation " clause has secured for all 
the advantages gained by any in its special treaties. 
Nothing has since occurred to destroy this situation. 
In asking his "friends" to meet again in con- 
ference now, the Sultan acted wisely and within his 
rights. The fact that any two or three of them 
may have agreed to give one of their number a 
"free hand," should it suit her purposes to upset 
the stahis quo, does not theoretically affect the 
position, though it has suggested the advisability 
of further discussion. It is only in virtue of their 
combined might that the Powers in question are 
enabled to assume the position they do. 

Spain, the only power with interests in Morocco 
other than commercial, had been settled with by a 
subsequent agreement in October, 1904, for she had 
been consulted in time. Special clauses dealing 
with her claims to consideration had even been 
inserted in the Anglo-French Agreement — 

Art. VII. "This arrangement does not apply to the 
points now occupied by Spain on the Moorish shore of the 
Mediterranean. 

Art. VIII. "The two Governments, animated by their 
sincerely friendly sentiments for Spain, take into particular 



284 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

consideration the interests she possesses, owing to her 
geographical position and to her territoral possessions on the 
Moorish shore of the Mediterranean, in regard to which 
the French Government will make some arrangement with 
the Spanish Government . . . (which) will be communicated 
to the Government of His Britannic Majesty." 

These Articles apply to Ceuta, which Spain 
withheld from the Portuguese after the brief union 
of the crowns in the sixteenth century ; to Velez, an 
absolutely worthless rock, captured in 1564 by 
Garcia de Toledo with fifteen thousand men, the 
abandonment of which has more than once been 
seriously urged in Spain ; to Alhucemas, a small 
island occupied in 1673 ; to Melilla, a huge rock 
peninsula captured, on his own account, by Medina 
Sidonia in 1497 ; and to the Zaffarine (or Saffron) 
Islands, only one of which is used, in the seizure of 
which the French were cleverly forestalled in 1848. 
All are convict stations ; unless heavily fortified in 
a manner that at present they are not, they would 
not be of sufficient value to tempt even a foe of 
Spain. Ceuta and Melilla alone are worthy of 
consideration, and the former is the only one it 
might ever pay to fortify. 

So far have matters gone. The conference 
asked for by Morocco — the flesh thrown to the 
wolves — is to form the next Act. To this con- 
ference the unfortunate Sultan would like to appeal 
for protection against the now " free hand " of 
France, but in consenting to discuss matters at all, 
she and her ally have, of course, stipulated that 
what has been done without reference to treaty 
shall not be treated of, if they are to take part, and 
as an act of courtesy to us, the United States has 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION 285 

followed suit. Other matters of importance which 
Mulai Abd el Aziz desired to discuss have also 
been ruled out beforehand, so that only minor 
questions are to be dealt with, hardly worth the 
trouble of meeting. 

Foremost among these is the replenishing of the 
Moorish exchequer by further loans, which might 
more easily have been arranged without a confer- 
ence. Indeed, there are so many money-lenders 
anxious to finance Morocco on satisfactory terms, that 
the competition among them has almost degenerated 
into a scramble. But all want some direct guarantee 
through their Governments, which introduces the 
political element, as in return for such guarantee 
each Power desires to increase its interests or privi- 
leges. Thus, while each financier holds out his gold- 
bags temptingly before the Sultan, elbowing aside 
his rival, each demands as surety the endorsement 
of his Government, the price of which the Sultan is 
hardly prepared to pay. He probably hopes that 
by appealing to them all in conference, he will 
obtain a joint guarantee on less onerous terms, 
without affording any one of them a foothold in 
his country, should he be unable to discharge his 
obligations. He is wise, and but for the difficulties 
caused by the defection of England and France from 
the political circle, this request for money might alone 
have sufficed to introduce a reformed regime under the 
joint auspices of all. As it is, attempts to raise funds 
elsewhere, even to discharge the current interest, 
having failed, his French creditors, who do possess 
the support of their Government, have obligingly 
added interest to capital, and with official sanction 
continue to roll the snowball destined one day to 



286 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

overwhelm the State. In the eyes of the Moors 
this is nothing less than a bill-of-sale on the Empire. 

A second point named by the Sultan for 
submission to the conference is the urgency of 
submitting all inhabitants of the country without 
distinction to the reformed taxation ; a reasonable 
demand if the taxes were reasonable and justly 
assessed, but who can say at present that they 
are either? The exchequer is undoubtedly de- 
frauded of large sums by the exemptions enjoyed 
by foreigners and their prot^gh, on account of the 
way in which these privileges are abused, while, 
to begin with, the system itself is unfair to the 
native. Here again is an excellent lever for securing 
reforms by co-operation. Let the Sultan understand 
that the sole condition on which such a privilege 
can be abandoned is the reform of his whole fiscal 
and judicial systems, and that this effected to the 
satisfaction of the Powers, these privileges will be 
abandoned. Nothing could do more to promote 
the internal peace and welfare of Morocco than this 
point rightly handled. 

A third demand, the abolition of foreign postal 
services in his country, may appear to many curious 
and insignificant, but the circumstances are peculiar. 
Twenty years ago, when I first knew Morocco, there 
were no means of transmitting correspondence up 
country save by intermittent couriers despatched by 
merchants, whom one had to hunt up at the cafis in 
which they reposed. On arrival the bundle of letters 
was carried round to likely recipients for them to 
select their own in the most hap-hazard way. Things 
were hardly more formal at the ports at which eagerly 
awaited letters and papers arrived by sea. These 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION 287 

were carried free from Gibraltar, and delivered on 
application at the various consular offices. 

At one time the Moorish Government maintained 
unsatisfactory courier services between two or three 
of the towns, but issued no stamps, the receipt for 
the courier's payment being of the nature of a post- 
mark, stamped at the office, which, though little 
known to collectors, is the only genuine and really 
valuable Moorish postage stamp obtainable. All 
other so-called Morocco stamps were issued by 
private individuals, who later on ran couriers 
between some two Moorish towns, their income 
being chiefly derived from the sale of stamps to 
collectors. Some were either entirely bogus services, 
or only a few couriers were run to save appearances. 
Stamps of all kinds were sold at face value, post- 
marked or not to order, and as the issues were from 
time to time changed, the profits were steady and 
good. The case was in some ways analogous to 
that of the Yangtse and other treaty ports of China, 
where I found every consul's wife engaged in de- 
signing local issues, sometimes of not inconsiderable 
merit. In Morocco quite a circle of stamp-dealers 
sprang up, mostly sharp Jewish lads — though not 
a few foreign officials contracted the fever, and some 
time ago a stamp journal began to be issued in 
Tangier to promote the sale of issues which other- 
wise would not have been heard of. 

Now all is changed ; Great Britain, France, 
Spain and Germany maintain head postal offices 
in Tangier, the British being subject to that of 
Gibraltar, whose stamps are used. All have courier 
services down the coast, as well as despatching by 
steamer, and some maintain inland mails conveyed 



2 88 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

by runners. The distance from Tangier to Fez, 
some hundred and fifty miles, is covered by one 
man on foot in about three days and a half, and 
the forty miles' run from Tangier to Tetuan is done 
in a night for a dollar, now less than three shillings. 

But a more enlightened Sultan sees the advan- 
tage it would be to him, if not to all parties, to 
control the distribution of the growing corre- 
spondence of both Europeans and natives, the 
latter of whom prefer to register their letters, having 
very little faith in their despatch without a receipt. 
And as Mulai Abd el Aziz is willing to join the 
Postal Union, provided that the service is placed 
in efficient European hands there is no reason why 
it should not be united in one office, and facilities 
thereby increased. 

France, however, in joining the conference, has 
quite another end in view than helping others to 
bolster up the present administration, and that is to 
obtain a formal recognition by all concerned, including 
Morocco, of the new position created by her agree- 
ment with Great Britain. That is to say, without 
permitting her action to be questioned in any way, 
she hopes to secure some show of right to what at 
present she possesses only by the might of herself 
and her friends. She has already agreed with 
Germany to recognize her special claim for per- 
mission to "police" the Morocco- Algerian frontier, 
and those who recall the appropriation of Tunisia 
will remember that it originated in "policing" the 
Khomair — known to the French as " Kroumirs " — 
on the Tunisian frontier of Algeria. 

It is, indeed, a curious spectacle, a group of 
butchers around the unfortunate victim, talking 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION 289 

philanthropy, practising guile : two of the strongest 
have at last agreed between themselves which is to 
have the carcase, but preparations for the " pacific " 
death-thrust are delayed by frantic appeals for 
further consultation, and by the refusal of one of 
their number who had been ignored to recognize 
the bargain. Consultation is only agreed to on 
conditions which must defeat its object, and terms 
are arranged with the intervener. Everything, 
therefore, is clear for the operation ; the tender- 
hearted are soothed by promises that though the 
*' penetration " cannot but be painful, it shall at least 
not be hostile ; while in order that the contumacious 
may hereafter hold their peace, the consultation is 
to result in a formal but carefully worded death- 
warrant. 

Meanwhile it is worth while recalling the essential 
features of the Madrid Convention of 1880, mainly 
due to French claims for special privileges in pro- 
tecting natives, or in giving them the rights of 
French citizens. This was summoned by Spain at 
the suggestion of Great Britain, with the concur- 
rence of Morocco. Holland, Sweden and Norway, 
Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, France, Germany, the 
United States, Italy, Brazil, and Austria- Hungary 
accepted the invitation in the order named, but 
Brazil was ultimately unrepresented. Russia was 
also invited as an after-thought, but did not consider 
it worth while accepting. The scope of the con- 
ference was limited to the subject of foreign pro- 
tection, though the question of property was by 
mutual consent included. 

The representatives of the conferring Powers 
accredited to the Spanish Court were nominated as 

u 



290 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

members — -the English Plenipotentiary acting for 
Denmark — as it was felt that those accredited to 
Morocco already held too decided views of the 
matter. The Moorish Foreign Minister attended 
on behalf of Morocco, and Senor Canovas, President 
of the Council, represented Spain. Seventeen 
meetings were held, under the presidency of Senor 
Canovas, between May 19 and July 3, the last 
being purely formal. The Convention then signed 
contained little that was new, but it re-stated clearly 
and harmonized with satisfactory results rights pre- 
viously granted to one and another. In several 
particulars, however, its provisions are faulty, and 
experience of their working has long led to demands 
for revision, but conflicting interests, and fears of 
opening up larger issues, have caused this to be 
postponed. 

Now that the time has arrived for a re-definition 
of the whole position and rights of foreigners and 
their Governments in Morocco, it is earnestly to 
be hoped that the opportunity may not be lost. 
The great fault of the Madrid Convention is that 
while it recognizes the right of foreigners to acquire 
land in Morocco, it stipulates for the previous con- 
sent of the native authorities, which is only to be 
obtained, if at all, by liberal "presents." But the 
most pressing need is the establishment of an inter- 
national tribunal for the trial of cases involving 
more than one nationality, to replace the present 
anarchy, resulting from the conflict in one case of 
any of the thirteen independent jurisdictions at 
present in force in Morocco. Such a measure 
would be an outcome of more value than all possible 
agreements to respect the independence and integrity 



THE POLITICAL SITUATION 291 

of Morocco till it suited the purpose of one party 
or another to encroach thereon. 

In lands knowing but one jurisdiction it is hard 
to conceive the abuses and defeats of justice which 
result from the confusion reigning in Morocco, or 
those which existed in Egypt previous to the 
establishment of international tribunals there. For 
instance, plaintiff, of nationality A., sues defendants, 
of nationalities B., C, and D., for the return of goods 
which they have forcibly carried off, on the ground 
that they were pledged to them by a party of 
nationality E., who disputes their claim, and declares 
the goods sold to original plaintiff. Here are five 
jurisdictions involved, each with a different set of 
laws, so that during the three separate actions 
necessitated, although the three defendants have all 
acted alike and together, the judgment in the case 
of each may be different, e.g. case under law B. dis- 
missed, that under law C. won by plaintiff, while 
law D. might recognize the defendants' claim, but 
condemn his action. Needless to follow such in- 
tricacies further, though this is by no means an 
extreme case, for disputes are constantly occurring 
— to say nothing of criminal actions — involving the 
several consular courts, for the most part presided 
over by men unequipped by legal training, in which 
it is a practical impossibility for justice to be done 
to all, and time and money are needlessly wasted. 



XXXI 
FRANCE IN MOROCCO 

" Who stands long enough at the door is sure to enter at last." 

Moorish Proverb. 

In a previous work oa this country, " The Land of 
the Moors," published in 1901, the present writer 
concluded with this passage : " France alone is to 
be feared in the Land of the Moors, which, as things 
trend to-day, must in time form part of her colony. 
There is no use disguising the fact, and, as England 
certainly would not be prepared to go to war with 
her neighbour to prevent her repeating in Morocco 
what she has done in Tunis, it were better not to 
grumble at her action. All England cares about is 
the mouth of the Mediterranean, and if this were 
secured to her, or even guaranteed neutral — were 
that possible — she could have no cause to object to 
the French extension. Our Moorish friends will 
not listen to our advice ; they keep their country 
closed, as far as they can, refusing administrative 
reforms which would prevent excuses for annexa- 
tion. Why should we trouble them ? It were 
better far to come to an agreement with France, 
and acknowledge what will prove itself one day — 
that France is the normal heir to Morocco whenever 
the present Empire breaks up." 

292 



FRANCE IN MOROCCO 293 

Unpopular as this opinion was among the British 
and other foreign subjects in the country, and 
especially among the Moors, so that it had at first 
no other advocate, it has since been adopted in 
Downing Street, and what is of more moment, acted 
upon. Nay more, Great Britain has, in return for 
the mere recognition of a fait accompli in Egypt, 
agreed to stand aside in Morocco, and to grant 
France a free hand in any attempt to create there 
a similar state of things. Though the principle 
was good, the bargain was bad, for the positions 
of the two contracting Powers, in Egypt and 
Morocco respectively, were by no means analogous. 
France could never have driven us out of Egypt 
save with her sword at our throat ; England had 
but to unite with other Powers in blocking the way 
of France in Morocco to stultify all her plans. Had 
England stood out for terms, whether as regarding 
her commercial interests in Morocco, which have 
been disgracefully sacrificed, or in the form of con- 
cessions elsewhere, a very much more equal-handed 
bargain might have been secured. 

The main provisions of the agreement between 
the two countries, concluded April 8, 1904, are — 

Art. II. "The British Government recognizes that it 
appertains to France, more especially as being the Power 
in contiguity with Morocco, to control the peace of the 
country, and to lend its assistance \^ all administrative, 
economical, financial, and military reforms. The British 
Government declares that it will not interfere with the 
action of France in this regard, provided that this action 
will leave intact the rights which, in virtue of treaties, con- 
ventions, and usages, Great Britain enjoys in Morocco, 
including the right of coasting between the Morocco ports, 
of which English vessels have had the benefit since 1901." 



2 94 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Art. VII, " In order to secure the free passage of the 
Straits of Gibraltar, both Governments agree not to allow 
fortifications or any strategic works to be erected on that 
part of the Moorish coast between Melilla and the heights 
which dominate the right bank of the Sebu exclusively." 

France has secured all that she wanted, or rather 
that her aggressive colonial party wanted, for 
opinions on that point are by no means identical, 
even in France, and the Agreement at once called 
forth the condemnation of the more moderate party. 
What appears to be permissive means much more. 
Now that Great Britain has drawn back — the 
Power to which the late Sir John Drummond Hay 
taught the Moors to look with an implicit con- 
fidence to champion them against all foes, as it did 
in the case of the wars with France and Spain, 
vetoing the retention of a foot of Moorish soil — 
Morocco lies at the feet of France. France, indeed, 
has become responsible for carrying out a task its 
eager spirits have been boiling over for a chance of 
undertakinof. Morocco has been made the ward of 
the hand that gripped it, which but recently filched 
two outlying provinces, Figig and Tddt. 

Englishmen who know and care little about 
Morocco are quite incapable of understanding the 
hold that France already had upon this land. 
Separated from it only by an unprotected boundary, 
much better defined on paper than in fact, over 
which there is always a " rectification " dispute in 
pickle, her province of Algeria affords a prospective 
base already furnished with lines of rail from her 
ports of Oran and Algiers. From Oojda, an 
insignificant town across the border from Lalla 
Maghnia (Marnia), there runs a valley route which 



FRANCE IN MOROCCO 295 

lays Fez in her power, with Tdza by the way to 
fortify and keep the mountaineers in check. At 
any time the frontier forays in which the tribes on 
both sides indnlcre may be fomented or exaggerated, 
as in the case of Tunis, to afford a like excuse for a 
similar occupation, which beyond a doubt would be 
a good thing for Morocco. Fez captured, and the 
seaports kept in awe or bombarded by the navy, 
Mequinez would fall, and an army landed in 
Mazagan would seize Marrakesh. 

All this could be accomplished with a minimum 
of loss, for only the lowlands would have to be 
crossed, and the mountaineers have no army. But 
their "pacification" would be the lingering task in 
which lives, time, and money would be lost beyond 
all recompense. Against a European army that of 
the Sultan need not be feared ; only a few battalions 
drilled by European officers might give trouble, 
but they would see former instructors among the 
foe, and without them they would soon become de- 
moralized. It would be the tribal skirmishers, of 
whom half would fall before the others yielded to 
the Nazarenes, who would give the trouble. 

The military mission which France has for many 
years imposed on the Sultan at his expense, though 
under her control, which follows him in his expedi- 
tions and spies out the land, has afforded a training- 
ofround for a series of future invadinor leaders. Her 
Algerian Mohammedan agents are able to pass and 
repass where foreigners never go, and besides 
collecting topographical and other information, they 
have lost no opportunity of making known the 
privileges and advantages of French rule. In case 
it may be found advisable to set up a dummy 



296 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

sultan under a protectorate, the French have an able 
and powerful man to hand in the young Idreesi 
Shareef of Wazzdn, whom the English refused to 
protect, and who, with his brother, received a French 
education. 

But while we, as a nation, have been unable to 
comprehend the French determination to possess 
Morocco, they have been unable to comprehend 
our calm indifference, and by the way in which 
they betray their suspicions of us, they betray their 
own methods. Protestant missionaries in Algeria 
and Tunisia, of whatever nationality, are supposed 
to be the emissaries of the British Government, and 
in consequence are harassed and maligned, while 
tourists outside the regular beat are watched. When 
visiting Oojda some years ago, I myself was twice 
arrested in Algeria, at Tlem9en and Lalla Maghnia, 
because mingling with natives, and it was with 
difficulty that I could persuade the jtt-ges dHnstruc- 
tion of my peaceful motives. 

Determined and successful efforts to become 
acquainted with the remotest provinces of Morocco, 
the distribution of its population, and whatever could 
be of use to an invading or "pacifying " force have 
long been made by France, but the most valuable 
portion of this knowledge remains pigeon-holed, or 
circulates only in strictly official memoires. Many 
of the officials engaged here, however, have amused 
themselves and the public by publishing pretty 
books of the average class, telling little new, while 
one even took the trouble to write his in English, 
in order to put us off the scent ! 

If ever means could justify an end, France 
deserves to enjoy the fruit of her labours. No 



FRANCE IN MOROCCO 297 

longer need she foment strife on the Algerian 
frontier, or wink at arms being smuggled across 
it ; no longer need the mis-named " pretender " be 
supplied with French gold, or intrigues be carried 
on at Court. Abd el Aziz must take the advice 
and "assistance" of France, whether he will or 
no, and curse the British to whom he formerly 
looked. This need not necessarily involve such 
drastic changes as would rouse the people to re- 
bellion, and precipitate a costly conquest. There 
are many reforms urgently required in the interests 
of the people themselves, and these can now be 
gradually enforced. Such reforms had been set on 
foot already by the young Sultan, mainly under 
British advice ; but to his chagrin, his advisers did 
not render the financial and moral support he needed 
to carry them out. France is now free to do this, 
and to strengthen his position, so that all wise re- 
forms may be possible. These will naturally com- 
mence with civil and judicial functions, but must 
soon embrace the more pressing public works, such 
as roads, bridges, and port improvements. Railways 
are likely to be the first roads in most parts, and 
Mulai Abd el Aziz will welcome their introduction. 
The western ideas which he has imbibed during the 
last few years are scoffed at only by those who know 
little of him. What France will have to be pre- 
pared for is Court intrigue, and she will have to 
give the Moors plainly to understand that "What- 
soever king shall reign, she'll still be 'boss of the 
show,' sir." 

As one of the first steps needed, but one requir- 
ing the co-operation of all other Powers on treaty 
terms with the Moors, the establishment of tribunals 



298 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

to which all should be amenable, has already been 
touched upon. These must necessarily be pre- 
sided over by specially quahfied Europeans in 
receipt of sufficient salary to remove them from 
temptation. A clear distinction should then be 
made between a civil code administered by such 
tribunals and the jurisdiction of the Muslim law in 
matters of religion and all dependent upon it. But 
of even more pressing importance is the reform of 
the currency, and the admission of Morocco to the 
Latin Union. This could well be insisted on when 
the financial question is discussed at the Algeciras 
Conference, as well as the equally important estab- 
lishment in competent hands of a State Bank. 
This and the reform of the whole fiscal system 
must precede every other measure, as they form 
the ground-work of the whole. 

Whatever public works may be eventually under- 
taken, the first should be, as far as possible, such as 
the Moors themselves can execute under European 
direction, and as they can appreciate. Irrigation 
would command enthusiasm where railways would 
only provoke opposition, and the French could find 
no surer way of winning the hearts of the people 
than by coping at once with the agricultural water 
supply, in order to provide against such years of 
famine as the present, and worse that are v/ell 
remembered. That would be a form of "pacific 
penetration," to which none could object. 

Education, too, when attempted, should be 
gradually introduced as a means of personal advance- 
ment, the requirements of the public service being 
raised year by year, as the younger generation has 
had opportunities of better qualifying themselves. 




\_Alberf, Photo., Tunis. 
TUNISIA UNDER THE FRENCH — AN EXECUTION. 



FRANCE IN MOROCCO 299 

Above all, every post should be in theory at least 
thrown open to the native, and in practice as soon 
as the right man turned up. Better retain or 
instal more of the able Moors of to-day as figure- 
heads with European advisers, than attempt a new 
set to start with. But a clean sweep should be 
made of the foreigners at present in the Moorish 
service, all of whom should be adequately pensioned 
off, that with the new order might come new men, 
adequately paid and independent of " commissions." 
It is essential that the people learn to feel that they 
are not being exploited, but that their true welfare 
is sought. Every reform should be carried out 
along native lines, and in conformity with native 
thought. 

The costly lesson of Algeria, where native rights 
and interests were overthrown, and a complete de- 
tested foreign rule set up, has taught the French 
the folly of such a system, however glorious it may 
appear on paper. They have been wiser in Tunisia, 
where a nominally native government is directed 
by Frenchmen, whom it pays, and sooner or later 
Morocco is almost certain to become a second 
Tunisia. This will not only prove the best work- 
ing system, but it will enable opposition to be dealt 
with by Moorish forces, instead of by an invading 
army, which would unite the Berber tribes under 
the Moorish flag. This was what prolonged the 
conquest of Algeria for so many years, and the 
Berbers of Morocco are more independent and 
better armed than were those of Algeria seventy 
years ago. What France will gain by the change 
beyond openings for Frenchmen and the glory of 
an extended colonial empire, it is hard to imagine, 



300 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

but empty glory seems to satisfy most countries 
greedy of conquest. So far the only outward evi- 
dences of the new position are the over-running of 
the ports, especially of Tangier, by Frenchmen of 
an undesirable class, and by an attempt to establish 
a French colony at the closed port of Mehediya 
by doubtful means, to say nothing of the increased 
smuggling of arms. 

How the welfare of the Moors will be affected 
by the change is a much more important question, 
though one often held quite unworthy of considera- 
tion, the accepted axiom being that, whether they 
like it or not, what is good for us is good for them. 
Needless to say that most of the reforms required 
will be objected to, and that serious obstacles 
will be opposed to some ; the mere fact that the 
foreigner, contemptuously called a " Nazarene," is 
their author, is sufficient to prejudice them in native 
eyes, and the more prominent the part played by 
him, the more difficult to follow his advice. But if 
the Sultan and his new advisers will consent to a 
wise course of quiet co-operation, much may be 
effected without causing trouble. It is astonishing 
how readily the Moors submit to the most radical 
changes when unostentatiously but forcibly carried 
out. Never was there a greater call for the suaviter 
in modo, fortiter in re. Power which makes itself 
felt by unwavering action has always had their 
respect, and if the Sultan is prepared not to act 
till with gold in his coffers, disciplined troops at his 
command, and loyal officials to do his behest, he 
can do so with unquestioned finality, all will go well. 

Then will the prosperity of the people revive — 
indeed, achieve a condition hitherto unknown save 



FRANCE IN MOROCCO 301 

in two or three reigns of the distant past, perhaps 
not then. The poor will not fear to sow their 
barren fields, or the rich to display their wealth ; 
hidden treasure will come to light, and the groan of 
the oppressed will cease. Individual cases of gross 
injustice will doubtless arise ; but they will be 
as nothing compared with what occurs in Morocco 
to-day, even with that wrought by Europeans 
who avail themselves of existing evils. So that if 
France is wise, and restrains her hot-heads, she 
may perform a magnificent work for the Moors, as 
the British have done in Egypt ; at least, it is to be 
hoped she may do as well in Morocco as in Tunisia. 
But it would be idle to ignore the deep dis- 
satisfaction with which the Anglo-French Agree- 
ment has been received by others than the Moors.* 
Most British residents in Morocco, probably every 
tourist who has been conducted along the coast, 
or sniffed at the capital cities ; those firms of ours 
who share the bulk of the Moorish trade, and 
others who yearned to open up possible mines, and 
undertake the public works so urgently needed ; 
ay, and the concession-prospectors and company- 
mongers who see the prey eluding their grasp ; even 
the would-be heroes across the straits who have 
dreamed in vain of great deeds to be done on those 
hills before them ; all unite in deploring what 
appears to them a gross blunder. After all, this 
is but natural. So few of us can see beyond our 
own domains, so many hunger after anything — in 
their particular line — that belongs to a weaker 
neiehbour, that it is well we have disinterested 
statesmen who take a wider view. Else had we 

* See Appendix. 



302 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

long since attempted to possess ourselves of the 
whole earth, like the conquering hordes of Asia, 
and in consequence we should have been dis- 
possessed ourselves. 

Even to have been driven to undertake in 
Morocco a task such as we were in Egypt, would 
have been a calamity, for our hands are too full 
already of similar tasks. It is all very well in these 
times of peace, but in the case of war, when we 
might be attacked by more than one antagonist, we 
should have all our work cut out to hold what 
we have. The policy of "grab," and dabbing 
the world with red, may be satisfactory up to a 
certain point, but it will be well for us as a nation 
when we realize that we have had enough. In 
Morocco, what is easy for France with her con- 
tiguous province, with her plans for trans-Saharan 
traffic, and her thirst to copy our colonial expansion 
— though without men to spare — would have been 
for us costly and unremunerative. We are well quit 
of the temptation. 

Moreover, we have freed ourselves of a possible, 
almost certain, cause of friction with France, of 
itself a most important gain. Just as France would 
never have acquiesced in our establishing a pro- 
tectorate in Morocco without something more 
than words, so the rag-fed British public, always 
capable of being goaded to madness by the news- 
papers, would have bitterly objected to French 
action, if overt, while powerless to prevent the 
insidious grasp from closing on Morocco by degrees. 
The first war engaging at once British attention 
and forces was like to see France installed in 
Morocco without our leave. The early reverses of 



FRANCE IN MOROCCO 303 

the Transvaal War induced her to appropriate Tuat 
and Figig, and had the fortune of war been against 
us, Morocco would have been French already. 
These facts must not be overlooked in discussing 
what was our wisest course. We were unprepared 
to do what France was straining to do : we 
occupied the manger to no one's good — practically 
the position later assumed by Germany. Surely we 
were wiser to come to terms while we could, not as 
in the case of Tunisia, when too late. 

But among the objecting critics one class has 
a right to be heard, those who have invested life 
and fortune in the Morocco trade ; the men who 
have toiled for years against the discouraging odds 
involved, who have wondered whether Moorish 
corruption or British apathy were their worst foe, in 
whom such feeling is not only natural but excusable. 
Only those who have experienced it k^3w what it 
means to be defrauded by; complacent Orientals, and 
to be refused the redress they see officials of other 
nations obtaining for rivals. Yet now they find all 
capped by the instructions given to our consuls not 
to act without conferring with the local representa- 
tives of France, which leads to the taunt that Great 
Britain has not only sold her interests in Morocco 
to the French, but also her subjects ! 

The British policy has all along been to main- 
tain the status quo in spite of individual interests, 
deprecating interference which might seem high- 
handed, or create a precedent from which retraction 
would be difficult. In the collection of debts, in 
enforcing the performance of contracts, or in securing 
justice of any kind where the policy is to promise 
all and evade all till pressure is brought to bear, 



304 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

British subjects in Morocco have therefore always 
found themselves at a disadvantage in competition 
with others whose Governments openly supported 
them. The hope that buoyed them up was that 
one day the tide might turn, and that Great Britain 
might feel it incumbent on her to " protect " 
Morocco against all comers. Now hope has fled. 
What avails it that grace of a generation's span 
is allowed them, that they may not individually 
suffer from the change ? It is the dream of years 
that lies shattered. 

Here are the provisions for their protection : 

Art. IV. " The two Governments, equally attached to 
the principle of commercial liberty, both in Egypt and 
Morocco, declare that they will not lend themselves to 
any inequality either in the establishment of customs 
rights or other taxes, or in the establishment of tariffs 
for transport on the railways. . . . This mutual agreement 
is valid for a period of thirty years " (subject to extensions 
of five years). 

Art. V. secures the maintenance in their posts of British 
officials in the Moorish service, but while it is specially 
stipulated that French missionaries and schools in Egypt 
shall not be molested, British missionaries in Morocco are 
committed to the tender mercies of the French. 

Thus there can be no immediate exhibition of 
favouritism beyond the inevitable placing of all con- 
cessions in French hands, and there is really not 
much ground of complaint, while there is a hope of 
cause for thankfulness. Released from its former 
bugbears, no longer open to suspicion of secret 
designs, our Foreign Office can afford to impart a 
little more backbone into its dealings with Moorish 
officials ; a much more acceptable policy should, 



FRANCE IN MOROCCO 305 

therefore, be forthwith inaugurated, that the Morocco 
traders may see that what they have lost in possf- 
bihties they have gained in actualities. Still more ! 
the French, now that their hands are free, are in a 
position to " advise " reforms which will benefit all. 
Thus out of the ashes of one hope another rises. 



X 



PART III 

XXXII 
ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 

" One does not become a horseman till one has fallen." 

Moorish Proverb. 

A JOURNEY through Algeria shows what a stable 
and enlightened Government has been able to do 
in a land by no means so highly favoured by Nature 
as Morocco, and peopled by races on the whole 
inferior. The far greater proportion of land there 
under cultivation emphasizes the backward state 
of Morocco, although much of it still remains un- 
touched ; while the superior quality of the pro- 
duce, especially of the fruits, shows what might 
be accomplished in the adjoining country were its 
condition improved. The hillsides of Algeria are 
in many districts clothed with vines which prosper 
exceedingly, often almost superseding cereals as 
objects of cultivation by Europeans. 

The European colonists are of all nationalities, 
and the proportion which is not French is astonish- 
ingly large, but every inducement is held out for 
naturalization as Algerians, and all legitimate 
obstacles are thrown in the way of those who 
maintain fidelity to their fatherlands. Every effort 

307 



3o8 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

is made to render Algeria virtually part of France, 
as politically it is already considered to be. It is 
the case of the old days of slavery revived under a ^ 
new form, when the renegade was received with \ 
open arms, and the man who remained steadfast 
was seldom released from slavery. Of course, in 
these days there is nothing approaching such treat- 
ment, and it is only the natives who suffer to any 
extent. 

These are despised, if not hated, and despise 
and hate in return. The conquerors have repeated 
in Algeria the old mistake which has brought about 
such dire results in other lands, of always retaining 
the position of conquerors, and never unbending to 
the conquered, or encouraging friendship with them. 
This attitude nullifies whatever good may result 
from the mixed schools in which Muslim, Jew, and 
European are brought in contact, in the hope of 
turning out a sort of social amalgam. Most of the 
French settlers are too conceited and too ignorant 
to learn Arabic, though this is by no means the 
fault of the Government, which provides free public 
classes for instruction in that language in the chief 
towns of Aloferia and Tunisia. The result is that 
the natives who meet most with foreigners have, 
without the most ordinary facilities enjoyed by 
the Europeans, to pick up a jargon which often 
does much more credit to them than the usual 
light acquaintance of the foreigner with Arabic 
does to him. Those who make any pretence at 
it, usually speak it with an accent, a pronunciation 
and a nonchalance which show that they have 
taken no pains whatever to acquire it. Evidently 
it pays better to spend money educating natives 



ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 309 

in French than Frenchmen in Arabic. It is an 
amusing fact that most of the teachers have pro- 
duced their own text-books, few of which possess 
special merit. 

As a colony Algeria has proved a failure. 
Foreign settlers hold most of the desirable land, 
and till it with native labour. The native may 
have safety and justice now, but he has suffered 
terribly in the past, as the reports of the Bureau 
Arabe, established for his protection, abundantly 
prove, and bitterly he resents his fate. No love is 
lost between French and natives in Tunisia, but 
there is actual hatred in Algeria, fostered by the 
foreigner far more than by the smouldering bigotry 
of Isldm. They do not seem to intermingle even 
as oil and water, but to follow each a separate, 
independent course. 

Among the foreign colonists it is a noteworthy 
fact that the most successful are not the French, 
who want too much comfort, but almost any of the 
nationalities settled there, chiefly Spaniards and 
Italians. The former are to be found principally 
in the neighbourhood of Oran, and the latter further 
east ; they abound in Tunisia. Englishmen and 
others of more independent nature have not been 
made welcome in either country, and year by year 
their interests have dwindled. Even in Tunisia, 
under a different system, the same result has been 
achieved, and every restriction reconcilable with 
paper rights has been placed on other than French 
imports. There may be an " open door," but 
it is too closely guarded for us. The English 
houses that once existed have disappeared, and 
what business is done with this country has 



3IO LIFE IN MOROCCO 

had to take refuge with agents, for the most part 
Jews. 

In studying the Hfe of Algerian towns, the almost 
entire absence of well-to-do Arabs or Berbers is 
striking. I never came across one who might be 
judged from his appearance to be a man of means 
or position, unless in military or official garb, though 
there are doubtless many independent natives 
among the Berber and Arab tribes. The few 
whom I encountered making any pretence of dress- 
ing well were evidently of no social rank, and the 
complaint on every hand is that the natives are 
being gradually ousted from what little is left to 
them. 

As for European law, they consider this to have 
no connection with justice, and think themselves 
very heavily taxed to support innovations with 
which they have no concern, and which they would 
rather dispense with. One can, indeed, feel for 
them, though there is no doubt much to be said 
on both sides, especially when it is the other side 
which boasts the power, if not the superior intel- 
ligence. The Jews, however, thrive, and in many 
ways have the upper hand, especially so since the 
wise move which accorded them the rights of 
French citizenship. It is remarkable, however, 
how much less conspicuous they are in the groups 
about the streets than in Morocco, notwithstanding 
that their dress is quite as distinctive as there, 
though different. 

The new-comer who arrives at the fine port of 
Algiers finds it as greatly transformed as its name 
has been from the town which originally bore it, 
El Jazirah. The tine appearance of the rising 



ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 311 

tiers of houses gives an impression of a still larger 
city than it really is, for very little is hidden from 
view except the suburbs. From a short way out 
to sea the panorama is grand, but it cannot be as 
chaste as when the native city clustered in the 
hollow with its whitewashed houses and its many 
minarets, completely surrounded by green which 
has long since disappeared under the advancing tide 
of bricks and mortar. One can hardly realize that 
this fine French city has replaced the den of pirates 
of such fearful histories. Yet there is the original 
light-house, the depot for European slaves, and away 
on the top of yonder hill are remains of the ancient 
citadel. It was there, indeed, that those dreadful 
cruelties were perpetrated, where so many Christians 
suffered martyrdom. Yes, this is where once stood 
the "famous and war-like city, El Jazirah," which 
was in its time *' the scourge of Christendom." 

Whether the visitor be pleased or disappointed 
with the modern city depends entirely on what he 
seeks. If he seeks Europe in Africa, with perhaps 
just a dash of something oriental, he will be amply 
satisfied with Algiers, which is no longer a native 
city at all. It is as French as if it had risen from 
the soil entirely under French hands, and only the 
slums of the Arab town remain. The seeker after 
native life will therefore meet with complete dis- 
appointment, unless he comes straight from Europe, 
with no idea what he ought to expect. All the 
best parts of the town, the commercial and the 
residental quarters, have long since been replaced 
by European substitutes, leaving hardly a trace of 
the picturesque originals, while every day sees a 
further encroachment on the erstwhile African 



312 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

portion, the Interest of which is almost entirely re- 
moved by the presence of crowds of poor Europeans 
and European-dressed Jews. The visitor to Algiers 
would therefore do well to avoid everything native, 
unless he has some opportunity of also seeing some- 
thing genuine elsewhere. The only specimens he 
meets in the towns are miserable half-caste fellows 
— by habit, if not by birth, — for their dress, their 
speech, their manners, their homes, their customs, 
their religion — or rather their lack of religion, — have 
all suffered from contact with Europeans. But even 
before the Frenchmen came, it is notorious how the 
Algerines had sunk under the bane of Turkish rule, 
as is well illustrated by their own saying, that where 
the foot of the Turk had trod, grass refused to 
grow. Of all the Barbary States, perhaps none 
has suffered more from successive outside influences 
than the people of Algeria. 

The porter who seizes one's luggage does not 
know when he is using French words or Arabic, or 
when he introduces Italian, Turkish, or Spanish, 
and cannot be Induced to make an attempt at Arabic 
to a European unless the latter absolutely refuses to 
reply to his jargon. Then comes a hideous corrup- 
tion of his mother tongue, in which the foreign 
expressions are adorned with native Inflexions in 
the most comical way. His dress Is barbarous, 
an ancient and badly fitting pair of trousers, and 
stocklngless feet In untidy boots, on the heels of 
which he stamps along the streets with a most 
unpleasant noise. The collection of garments which 
complete his attire are mostly European, though 
the **Fez" cap remains the distinctive feature of 
the Muslim's dress, and a selham — that cloak of 



ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 313 

cloaks, there called a " burnus" — is slung across his 
shoulder. Some few countrymen are to be seen 
who still retain the more graceful native costume, 
with the typical camel-hair or cotton cord bound 
round the head-dress, but the old inhabitants are 
being steadily driven out of town. 

The characteristic feature of Algerian costumes 
is the head-cord referred to, which pervades a great 
part of Arabdom, in Syria and Arabia being com- 
posed of two twists of black camel hair perhaps 
an inch thick. In Algeria it is about an eighth of 
an inch thick, and brown. The slippers are also 
characteristic, but ugly, being of black leather, 
excellently made, and cut very far open, till it 
becomes an art to keep them on, and the heels 
have to be worn up. The use of the white selham 
is almost universal, unhemmed at the edges, as in 
Tunis also ; and over it is loosely tied a short haik 
fastened on the head by the cord. 

There is, however, even in Algiers itself, one 
class of men who remain unaffected by their 
European surroundings, passive amid much change, 
a model for their neighbours. These are the Beni 
M'zab, a tribe of Mohammedan Protestants from 
southern Algeria, where they settled long ago, as 
the Puritans did in New England, that they might 
there worship God in freedom. They were the 
Abadiya, gathered from many districts, who have 
taken their modern name from the tribe whose 
country they now inhabit. They speak a dialect of 
Berber, and dress in a manner which is as distinctive 
as their short stature, small, dark, oily features, jet- 
black twinkling eyes, and scanty beard. They come 
to the towns to make money, and return home to 



314 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

spend it, after a few years of busy shop-keeping. A 
butcher whom I met said that he and a friend had 
the business year and year about, so as not to be 
too long away from home at a time. They are 
very hard-working, and have a great reputation for 
honesty ; they keep their shops open from about 
five in the morning till nine at night. As the Beni 
M'zab do not bring their wives with them, they 
usually live together in a large house, and have 
their own mosque, where they worship alone, re- 
senting the visits of all outsiders, even of other 
Muslims. Admission to their mosque is therefore 
practically refused to Europeans, but in Moorish 
dress I was made welcome as some distinguished 
visitor from saintly Fez, and found it very plain, 
more like the kubbah of a saint-house than an 
ordinary mosque. 

There are also many Moors in Algeria, especially 
towards the west. These, being better workmen than 
the Algerines, find ready employment as labourers 
on the railways. Great numbers also annually visit 
Oran and the neighbourhood to assist at harvest 
time. Those Moors who live there usually disport 
themselves in trousers, strange to stay, and, when 
they can afford it, carry umbrellas. They still adhere 
to the turban, however, instead of adopting the 
head cord. At Blidah I found that all the sellers 
of sfinges — yeast fritters — were Moors, and those 
whom I came across were enthusiastic to find one 
who knew and liked their country. The Algerines 
affect to despise them and their home, which they 
declare is too poor to support them, thus accounting 
for their coming over to work. 

The specimens of native architecture to be met 



ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 315 

with in Algeria are seldom, if ever, pure in style, 
and are generally extremely corrupt. The country 
never knew prosperity as an independent kingdom, 
such as Morocco did, and it is only in Tlemgen, on 
the borders of that Empire, that real architectural 
wealth is found, but then this was once the capital 
of an independent kingdom. The palace at Con- 
stantine is not Moorish at all, except in plan, being 
adorned with a hap-hazard collection of odds and 
ends from all parts. It is worse than even the 
Bardo at Tunis, where there is some good plaster 
carving — naksh el hadeed — done by Moorish or 
Andalucian workmen. I n the palaces of the Governor 
and the Archbishop of Algiers, which are also very 
composite, though not without taste, there is more 
of this work, some of it very fine, though much of it 
is merely modern moulded imitation. 

Of more than a hundred mosques and shrines 
found in Algiers when it was taken by the French, 
only four of the former and a small number of the 
latter remain, the rest having been ruthlessly turned 
into churches. The Mosque of Hasan, built just 
over a century ago, is now the cathedral, though for 
this transformation it has been considerably dis- 
torted, and a mock-Moorish fagade erected in the 
very worst taste. Inside things are better, having 
been less interfered with, but what is now a church 
was never a good specimen of a mosque, having 
been originally partly European in design, the work 
of renegades. The same may be said of the Mosque 
of the Fisheries, a couple of centuries old, built in 
the form of a Greek cross ! One can well under- 
stand how the Dey, according to the story, had the 
architect put to death on discovering this anomaly. 



3i6 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

These incongruities mar all that is supposed in 
Algeria to be Arabesque. The Great Mosque, 
nevertheless, is more ancient and in better style, 
more simple, more chaste, and more awe-inspiring. 
The Zawiah of Sidi Abd er- Rahman, outside the 
walls, is as well worth a visit as anything in Algiers, 
being purely and typically native. It is for the 
opportunities given for such peeps as this that one 
is glad to wander in Algeria after tasting the real 
thing in Morocco, where places of worship and baths 
are closed to Europeans. These latter I found 
all along North Africa to be much what they are 
in Morocco, excepting only the presence of the 
foreigners. 

The tile-work of Algeria is ugly, but many of 
the older Italian and other foreign specimens are 
exceptionally good, both in design and colour. 
Some of the Tunisian tiles are also noteworthy, 
but it is probable that none of any real artistic value 
were ever produced in what is now conveniently 
called Algeria. There is nothing whatever in either 
country to compare with the exquisite Fez work 
found in the Alhambra, hardly to rival the inferior 
productions of Tetuan. A curious custom in Algeria 
is to use all descriptions of patterns together 
"higgledy-piggledy," upside down or side-ways, 
as though the idea were to cover so much surface 
with tiling, irrespective of design. Of course this 
is comparatively modern, and marks a period since 
what art Algeria ever knew had died out. It is 
noticeable, too, how poor the native manufacturers 
are compared with those of Morocco, themselves of 
small account beside those of the East. The wave 
of civilization which swept over North Africa in the 



ALGERIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 317 

Middle Ages failed to produce much effect till it 
recoiled upon itself in the far, far west, and then 
turned northward into Spain. 

Notwithstanding all this, Algeria affords an 
ample field for study for the scientist, especially 
the mountain regions to the south, where Berber 
clans and desert tribes may be reached in a manner 
impossible yet in Morocco, but the student of 
oriental life should not visit them till he has learnt 
to distinguish true from false among the still behind- 
hand Moors. 



XXXIII 
TUNISIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 

" The slave toils, but the Lord completes." 

Moorish Proverb. 

Fortunately for the French, the lesson learned in 
Algeria was not neglected when the time came for 
their " pacific penetration " of Tunisia. Their first 
experience had been as conquerors of anything but 
pacific intent, and for a generation they waged war 
with the Berber tribes. Everywhere, even on the 
plains, where conquest was easy, the native was 
dispossessed. The land was allotted to Frenchmen 
or to natives who took the oath of allegiance to 
France, and became French subjects. Those who 
fought for their fatherland were driven off, the 
villages depopulated, and the country laid waste. In 
the cities the mosques were desecrated or appro- 
priated to what the native considered idolatrous 
worship. They have never been restored to their 
owners. Those Algerines only have flourished 
who entered the French army or Government 
service, and affected manners which all but cut 
them off from their fellow-countrymen. 

In Tunisia the French succeeded, under cover 
of specious assurances to the contrary, in over- 
throwing the Turkish beys, rehabilitating them in 
name as their puppets, with hardly more opposition 

318 



TUNISIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 319 

than the British met with in Burma. The result 
is a nominally native administration which takes 
the blame for failures, and French direction which 
takes the credit for successes. All that was best 
in Algeria has been repeated, but native rights 
have been respected, and the cities, with their 
mosques and shrines, left undisturbed as far as 
possible. The desecration of the sacred mosque 
of Kairwdn as a stable was a notable exception. 

The difference between the administration of 
Algeria and that of Tunisia makes itself felt at 
every step. In the one country it is the ruling 
of a conquered people for the good of the con- 
querors alone, and in the other it is the ruling of 
an unconquered people by bolstering up and im- 
proving their own institutions under the pretence 
of seeking their welfare. The immense advantage 
of the Tunisian system is apparent on all sides. 
The expense is less, the excuses for irregularities 
are greater, and the natives still remain a nominal 
power in the land, instead of being considered as 
near serfs as is permissible in this twentieth century. 

The results of the French occupation were 
summed up to me by a Tunisian as the making 
of roads, the introduction of more money and much 
drunkenness, and the institution of laws which no 
native could ever hope to understand. But France 
has done more than that in Tunis, even for the 
native. He has the benefit of protection for life 
and property, with means of education and facilities 
for travel, and an outlet for his produce. He might 
do well — and there are many instances of commercial 
success — but while he is jibbing against the foreign 
yoke, the expatriated Jews, whom he treated so 



320 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

badly when he had the upper hand, are outstripping 
him every day. The net result of the foreigners' 
presence is good for him, but it would be much 
better had he the sense to take advantage of his 
chances as the Jew does. Many of the younger 
generation, indeed, learn Frencli„ and enter the 
great army of functionaries, but they are rigidly 
restricted to the lowest posts, and here again the 
Jew stands first. 

In business or agriculture there is sure to come 
a time when cash is needed, so that French and 
Jewish money-lenders flourish, and when the Tuni- 
sian cannot pay, the merciless hand of foreign law 
irresistibly sells him up. In the courts the compli- 
cated procedure, the intricate code, and the swarm 
of lawyers, bewilder him, and he sighs for the time 
when a bribe would have settled the question, and 
one did at least know beforehand which would win 
— the one with the longer purse. Now, who 
knows ? But the Tunisian's principal occasions for 
discontent are the compulsory military service, and 
the multiplication and weight of the taxes. From 
the former only those are exempt who can pass 
certain examinations in French, and stiff ones at 
that, so that Arabic studies are elbowed out ; the 
unremitted military duties during the Ramaddn fast 
are regarded as a peculiar hardship. To the taxes 
there seems no end, and from them no way of 
escape. Even the milkman complains, for example, 
that though his goats themselves are taxed, he 
cannot bring their food into town from his garden 
without an additional charge being paid ! 

With the superficial differences to be accounted 
for by this new state of things, there still remains 



TUNISIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 321 

much more in Tunisia to remind one of Morocco 
than in Algeria. What deeper distinctions there 
are result in both countries from Turkish influence, 
and Turkish blood introduced in the past, but even 
these do not go very deep. Beneath it all there 
are the foundations of race and creed common to all, 
and the untouched countryman of Tunisia is closely 
akin to his fellow of Morocco. Even in the towns 
the underlying likeness is strong. 

The old city of Tunis is wonderfully like that 
of Fez ; the streets, the shops, the paving, being 
identical ; but in the former a picturesque feature 
is sometimes introduced, stone columns forming 
arcades in front of the shops, painted in spiral 
bands of green and red, separated by a band of 
white. The various trades are grouped there as 
further west, and the streets are named after them. 
The Mellah, or Jewish Quarter, has lost its boundary, 
as at Tangier, and the gates dividing the various 
wards have disappeared too. Hardly anything 
remains of the city walls, new ones having arisen to 
enclose the one European and two native suburbs. 
But under a modern arcade in the main street, the 
Avenue de France, there is between the shops the 
barred gate leading to a mosque behind, which does 
not look as if it were often opened. 

Tramways run round the line of the old walls, 
and it is strange to see the natives jumping on and 
off without stopping the car, in the most approved 
western style. There, as in the trains, European 
and African sit side by side, though it is to be 
observed that as a rule, should another seat be free, 
neither gets in where the other is. As for hopes 
of encouraging any degree of amalgamation, these 

Y 



322 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

are vain indeed. A mechanical mixture is all that 
can be hoped for : nothing more is possible. A 
few French people have embraced Islam for worldly 
aims, and it is popularly believed by the natives 
that in England thousands are accepting Mohammed. 

The mosques of Tunis are less numerous than 
those of Fez, but do not differ greatly from them 
except in the inferior quality of the tile-work, and 
in the greater use of stone for the arches and 
towers. The latter are of the Moorish square 
shape, but some, if not all, are ascended by steps, 
instead of by inclined planes. The mosques, with 
the exception of that at Kairwan — the most holy, 
strange to say — are as strictly forbidden to Euro- 
peans and Jews as in Morocco, and screens are put 
up before the doors as in Tangier. 

The Moors are very well known in Tunis, so 
many of them, passing through from Mekka on the 
Hajj, have been prevented from getting home by 
quarantine or lack of funds. Clad as a Moor myself, 
I was everywhere recognized as from that country, 
and was treated with every respect, being addressed 
as "Amm el Hdj".(" Uncle Pilgrim"), having my 
shoulders and hands kissed in orthodox fashion. 
There are several cafes where Morocco men are to 
be met with by the score. One feature of this 
cosmopolitan city is that there are distinct cafis for 
almost every nation represented here except the 
English. 

The Arabs of Morocco are looked upon as great 
thieves, but the Stasis have the highest reputation 
for honesty. Not only are all the gate-keepers of 
the city from that distant province, but also those 
of the most important stores and houses, as well as 



TUNISIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 323 

of the railway-stations, and many are residents in 
the town. The chief snake-charmers and story- 
tellers also hail from Sus. 

The veneration for Mulai Taib of Wazzan, from 
whom the shareefs of that place are descended, is 
great, and the Aisawa, hailing from Mequinez, are 
to be met with all along this coast; they are 
especially strong at Kairwan. In Tunis, as also in 
Algeria and Tripoli, the comparative absence of any 
objection to having pictures taken of human beings, 
which is an almost insurmountable hindrance in 
Morocco, again allowed me to use my kodak fre- 
quently, but I found that the Jews had a strong 
prejudice against portraits. 

The points in which the domestic usages of 
Tunisia differ from those of Morocco are the more 
striking on account of the remarkably minute 
resemblance, if not absolute identity, of so very 
many others, and as the novelty of the innovations 
wears off, it is hard to realize that one is not still in 
the " Far West." 

In a native household of which I found myself 
temporarily a member, it was the wholesale assimila- 
tion of comparatively trivial foreign matters which 
struck me. Thus, for instance, as one of the sons 
of my host remarked — though he was dressed in a 
manner which to most travellers would have appeared 
exclusively oriental — there was not a thing upon 
him which was not French. Doubtless a closer ex- 
amination of his costume would have shown that 
some of the articles only reached him through French 
hands, but the broad fact remained that they were 
all foreign. It is in this way that the more civilized 
countries show a strong and increasing tendency to 



324 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

develop into nations of manufacturers, with their 
gigantic workshops forcing the more backward, 
nolens volens, to relapse to the more primitive con- 
dition of producers of raw material only. 

There was, of course, a time when every garment 
such a man would have worn would have been of 
native manufacture, without having been in any 
feature less complete, less convenient, or less artistic 
than his present dress. In many points, indeed, 
there is a distinct loss in the more modern style, 
especially in the blending of colours, while it is 
certain that in no point has improvement been 
made. My friend, for instance, had the addition, 
common there, of a pair of striped merino socks, 
thrust into a pair of rubber-soled tennis shoes. 
Underneath he wore a second pair of socks, and 
said that in winter he added a third. Above them 
was not much bare leg, for the pantaloons are cut 
there so as often to reach right down to the ankles. 
This is necessitated by the custom of raising the 
mattresses used for seats on divans, and by sitting 
at table on European chairs with the legs dangling 
in the cold. The turban has nothing of the grace- 
fulness of its Moorish counterpart, being often of a 
dirty-green silk twisted into a rope, and then bound 
round the head in the most inelegant fashion, some- 
times showing the head between the coils ; they are 
not folds. Heads are by no means kept so care- 
fully shaved as in Morocco, and I have seen hair 
which looked as though only treated with scissors, 
and that rarely. 

The fashion for all connected with the Govern- 
ment to wear European dress, supplemented by the 
" Fez " (fortunately not the Turkish style), brings 




{Albert, Photo., Tunis. 
A TUNISIAN JEWESS IN STREET DRESS. 



TUNISIA VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 325 

about most absurd anomalies. This is especially 
observable in the case of the many very stout 
individuals who waddle about like ducks in their 
ungainly breeches. I was glad to find on visiting 
the brother of the late Bey that he retained the 
correct costume, though the younger members of 
his family and all his attendants were in foreign 
guise. The Bey himself received me in the frock- 
coat with pleated skirt, favoured by his countrymen 
the Turks. 

The Mohammedan women seen in the streets 
generally wear an elegant fine silk and wool haik 
over a costume culminating in a peaked cap, the 
face being covered — all but the eyes — by two black 
handkerchiefs, awful to behold, like the mask of a 
stage villain. More stylish women wear a larger 
veil, which they stretch out on either side in front 
of them with their hands. They seem to think 
nothing of sitting in a railway carriage opposite a 
man and chatting gaily with him. I learn from 
an English lady resident in Tunis that the indoor 
costume of the women is much that of the Jewesses 
out of doors — extraordinary indeed. It is not 
every day that one meets ladies in the street in 
long white drawers, often tight, and short jackets, 
black or white, but this is the actual walking dress 
of the Jewish ladies of Tunis. 



XXXIV 
TRIPOLI VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 

" Every sheep hangs by her own legs." 

Moorish Proverb. 

When, after an absence of twenty months, I found 
myself in Tripoli, although far enough from Morocco, 
I was still amid familiar sights and sounds whi^h 
made it hard to realize that I was not in some 
hitherto un visited town of that Empire. The petty 
differences sank to naught amid the wonderful 
resemblances. It was the Turkish element alone 
which was novel, and that seemed altogether out of 
place, foreign as it is to Africa. There was some- 
thing quite incongruous in the sight of those un- 
gainly figures in their badly fitting, quasi-European 
black coats and breeches, crowned with tall and 
still more ungainly red caps. The Turks are such 
an inferior race to the Berbers and Arabs that it is 
no wonder that they are despised by the natives. 
They appear much more out of place than do the 
Europeans, who remain, as in Morocco, a class by 
themselves. To see a Turk side by side with a 
white-robed native at prayer in a mosque is too 
ridiculous, and to see him eating like a wild man 
of the woods ! Even the governor, a benign 
old gentleman, looked very undignified in his 
shabby European surroundings, after the important 

326 



TRIPOLI VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 327 

appearance of the Moorish functionaries in their 
flowing robes. The sentinels at the door seemed to 
have been taught to imitate the wooden salute of 
the Germans, which removes any particle of grace 
which might have remained in spite of their clumsy 
dress. It is a strange sight to see them selling 
their rations of uninviting bread in the market to 
buy something more stimulating. They squat 
behind a sack on the ground as the old women do 
in Tangier. These are the little things reminding 
one that Tripoli is but a Turkish dependency. 

We may complain of the Moorish customs 
arrangements, but from my own experience, and 
from what others tell me, I should say that here is 
worse still. Not only were our things carefully 
overhauled, but the books had to be examined, as a 
result of which process Arabic works are often con- 
fiscated, either going in or out. The confusing lack 
of a monetary system equals anything even in 
southern Morocco, between which and this place 
the poor despised " gursh " turns up as a familiar 
link, not to be met with between Casablanca and 
Tripoli. 

Perhaps the best idea of the town for those 
readers acquainted with Morocco will be to call it a 
large edition of Casablanca. The country round 
is flat, the streets are on the whole fairly regular, 
and wider than the average in this part of the 
world. Indeed, carriages are possible, though not 
throughout the town. A great many more flying 
arches are thrown across the streets than we are 
accustomed to further west, but upper storeys are 
rare. The paving is of the orthodox Barbary style. 

The Tripolitan mosques are of a very different 



32 8 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

style from those of Morocco, the people be- 
longing to a different sect — the Hanafis — Moors, 
Algerines and Tunisians being of the more rigor- 
ous Malikis. Instead of the open courtyard sur- 
rounded by a colonnade, here they have a perfectly 
closed interior roofed with little domes, and lighted 
by barred windows. The walls are adorned with 
inferior tiles, mostly European, and the floors are 
carpeted. Round the walls hang cheap glazed 
texts from the Koran, and there is a general 
appearance of tawdry display which is disappointing 
after the chaste adornment of the finer Moorish 
mosques, or even the rude simplicity of the poorer 
ones. Orders may be obtained to view these build- 
ings, of which it is hardly necessary to say I availed 
myself, in one case ascending also the minaret. 
These minarets are much less substantial than those 
of Morocco, being octangular, with protruding stone 
balconies in something of the Florentine style, 
reached by winding stairs. The exteriors are white- 
washed, the balconies being tiled, and the cupolas 
painted green. Lamps are hung out at certain 
feasts. As for the voice of the mu6dhdhin, it must 
be fairly faint, since during the week I was there 
I never heard it. In Morocco this would have 
been an impossibility. 

The language, though differing in many minor 
details from that employed in Morocco, presents no 
difficulty to conversation, but it was sometimes 
necessary to try a second word to explain myself. 
The differences are chiefly in the names of common 
things in daily use, and in common adjectives. The 
music was identical with what we know in the ** Far 
West." Religious strictness is much less than in 



TRIPOLI VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 329 

Morocco, the use of intoxicants being fairly general 
in the town, the hours of prayer less strictly kept, 
and the objection to portraits having vanished. 
There seemed fewer women in the streets than in 
Morocco, but those who did appear were for the 
most part less covered up ; there was nothing new 
in the way the native women were veiled, only one 
eye being shown — I do not now take the foreign 
Turks into account. 

In the streets the absence of the better-class 
natives is most noticeable ; one sees at once that 
Tripoli is not an aristocratic town like Fez, Tetuan, 
or Rabat. The differences which exist between the 
costumes observed and those of Morocco are almost 
entirely confined to the upper classes. The poor 
and the country people would be undistinguishable 
in a Moorish crowd. Among the townsfolk stock- 
ings and European shoes are common, but there 
are no native slippers to equal those of Morocco, 
and yellow ones are rare. I saw no natives riding 
in the town ; though in the country it must be 
more common. The scarcity of four-footed beasts 
of burden is noticeable after the crowded Moorish 
thoroughfares. 

On the whole there is a great lack of the pictur- 
esque in the Tripoli streets, and also of noise. The 
street cries are poor, being chiefly those of vegetable 
hawkers, and one misses the striking figure of the 
water-seller, with his tinkling bell and his cry. 

The houses and shops are much like those of 
Morocco, so far as exteriors go, and so are the 
interiors of houses occupied by Europeans. The 
only native house to which I was able to gain 
access was furnished in the worst possible mixture 



330 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

of European and native styles to be found in many 
Jewish houses in Morocco, but from what I gleaned 
from others this was no exception to the rule. 

Unfortunately the number of grog-shops is un- 
duly large, with all their attendant evils. The 
wheeled vehicles being foreign, claim no description, 
though the quaintness of the public ones is great. 
Palmetto being unknown, the all-pervading halfah 
fibre takes its place for baskets, ropes, etc. The 
public ovens are very numerous, and do not differ 
greatly from the Moorish, except in being more 
open to the street. The bread is much less tempt- 
ing; baked in small round cakes, varnished, made 
yellow with saffron, and sprinkled with gingelly 
seed. Most of the beef going alive to Malta, 
mutton is the staple animal food ; vegetables are 
much the same as in Morocco. 

The great drawback to Tripoli is its proximity 
to the desert, which, after walking through a belt 
of palms on the land side of the town — itself built 
on a peninsula — one may see rolling away to the 
horizon. The gardens and palm groves are watered 
by a peculiar system, the precious liquid being 
drawn up from the wells by ropes over pulleys, in 
huge leather funnels of which the lower orifice is 
slung on a level with the upper, thus forming a bag. 
The discharge is ingeniously accomplished auto- 
matically by a second rope over a lower pulley, the 
two being pulled by a bullock walking down an 
incline. The lower lip being drawn over the lower 
pulley, releases the water when the funnel reaches 
the top. 

The weekly market, S6k et-Thldthah, held on 
the sands, is much as it would be in the Gharb el 



TRIPOLI VIEWED FROM MOROCCO 331 

Jawani, as Morocco is called in Tripoli. The 
greater number of Blacks is only natural, especially 
when it is noted that hard by they have a large 
settlement. 

It would, of course, be possible to enter into a 
much more minute comparison, but sufficient has 
been said to give a general idea of Tripoli to those 
who know something of Morocco, without having 
entered upon a general description of the place. 
From what I saw of the country people, I have no 
doubt that further afield the similarity between them 
and the people of central and southern Morocco, 
to whom they, are most akin, would even be 
increased. 



XXXV 

FOOT-PRINTS OF THE MOORS 
IN SPAIN 

" Every one buries his mother as he likes." 

Moonsh Proverb. 

I. First Impressions. 

Much as I had been prepared by the accounts of 
others to observe the prevalence of Moorish remains 
in the Peninsula, I was still forcibly struck at every 
turn by traces of their influence upon the country, 
especially in what was their chief home there, 
Andalucia. Though unconnected with these traces, 
an important item in strengthening this impression 
is the remarkable similarity between the natural 
features of the two countries. The general contour 
of the surface is the same on either side of the 
straits for a couple of hundred miles ; the same 
broad plains, separated by low ranges of hills, and 
crossed by sluggish, winding streams, fed from 
distant snow-capped mountains, and subject to 
sudden floods. The very colours of the earth are 
the same in several regions, the soil being of that 
peculiar red which gives its name to the Bldd 
Hamra ("Red Country") near Marrakesh. This 
is especially observable in the vicinity of Jer^z, 
and again at Granada, where one feels almost in 

332 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 223 

Morocco again. Even the colour of the rugged 
hills and rocks is the same, but more of the soil is 
cultivated than in any save the grain districts of 
Morocco. 

The vegetation is strikingly similar, the aloe and 
the prickly pear, the olive and the myrtle abound- 
ing, while from the slight glimpses I was able to 
obtain of the flora, the identity seems also to be 
continued there. Yet all this, though interesting 
to the observer, is not to be wondered at. It is our 
habit of considering the two lands as if far apart, 
because belonging to separate continents, which 
leads us to expect a difference between countries 
divided only by a narrow gap of fourteen miles or 
less, but one from whose formation have resulted 
most important factors in the world's history. 

The first striking reminders of the Moorish 
dominion are the names of Arabic origin. Some 
of the most noteworthy are Granada (Gharnatah), 
Alcazar (El Kasar), Arjona (R'honah), Gibraltar 
(Gibel Tdrik), Trafalgar (Tarf el Gharb, "West 
Point"), Medinah (Madinah, "Town"), Algeciras 
(El Jazirah, "The Island"), Guadalquivir (Wad el 
Kebeer — so pronounced in Spain — " The Great 
River"), Mulahacen (Mulai el Hasan), Alhama 
(El Hama, "The Hot Springs"), and numberless 
others which might be mentioned, including almost 
every name beginning with " Al." 

The rendering of these old Arabic words 
into Spanish presents a curious proof of the 
changes which the pronunciation of the Spanish 
alphabet has undergone during the last four cen- 
turies. To obtain anything like the Arabic sound 
it is necessary to give the letters precisely the same 



334 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

value as in English, with the exception of pro- 
nouncing "x" as "sh." Thus the word "alhaja," 
in everyday use — though unrecognizable as heard 
from the lips of the modern Castilian, "alaha," — is 
nothing but the Arabic " el hajah," with practically 
the same meaning in the plural, " things " or 
"goods." To cite more is unnecessary. The 
genuine pronunciation is still often met with among 
Jews of Morocco who have come little in con- 
tact with Spaniards, and retain the language of 
their ancestors when expelled from the Peninsula, 
as also in Spanish America. 

The Spanish language is saturated with cor- 
rupted Arabic, at all events so far as nouns are 
concerned. The names of families also are fre- 
quently of Arabic origin, as, for instance, Alarcos 
(Er-Rakkds — "the courier"), Alhama, etc., most of 
which are to be met with more in the country than 
in the towns, while very many others, little sus- 
pected as such, are Jewish. Although when the 
most remarkable of nations was persecuted and 
finally expelled from Spain, a far larger proportion 
nobly sacrificed their all rather than accept the 
bauble religion offered them by " The Catholic 
Kings" (King and Queen), they also have left 
their mark, and many a noble family could, if it 
would, trace its descent from the Jews. Some of 
their synagogues are yet standing, notably at 
Toledo — whence the many Toledanos, — built by 
Samuel Levy, who was secretary to Don Pedro 
the Cruel. This was in 1336, a century and a half 
before the Moors were even conquered, much less 
expelled, and if the sons of Ishmael have left their 
mark upon that sunny land, so have the sons of 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 335 

Israel, though in a far different manner. Morocco 
has ever since been the home of the descendants of 
a large proportion of the exiles. 

The Spanish physiognomy, not so much of the 
lower as of the upper classes, is strikingly similar 
to that of the mountaineers of Morocco, and these 
include some of the finest specimens. The Moors 
of to-day are of too mingled a descent to present 
any one distinct type of countenance, and it is the 
same with the Spaniards. So much of the blood of 
each flows in the veins of the other, that comparison 
is rendered more difficult. It is a well-known fact 
that several of the most ancient families in the 
kingdom can trace their descent from Moham- 
medans. A leading instance of this is the house 
of Mondejar, lords of Granada from the time of 
its conquest, as the then head of the house, 
Sidi Yahia, otherwise Don Pedro de Granada, 
had become a Christian. In the Generalife at that 
town, still in the custody of the same family, is a 
genealogical tree tracing its origin right back to 
the Goths ! * 

Next to physiognomy come habits and customs, 
and of these there are many which have been 
borrowed, or rather retained, from the Moors, 
especially in the country. The ploughs, the water- 
mills, the water-wheels, the irrigation, the treading 
out of the corn, the weaving of coarse cloth, and 
many other daily sights, from their almost complete 
similarity, remind one of Morocco. The bread- 
shops they call "tahonas," unaware that this is the 
Arabic for a flour-mill ; their water-wheels they 
still call by their Arabic name, ** naorahs," and it is 

* Andalucia is but a corruption of Vandalucia, 



336 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

the same with their pack-saddles, " albardas " (bar- 
dah). The Hst might be extended indefinitely, 
even from such common names as these. 

The salutations of the people seem literal trans- 
lations of those imported from the Orient, such as 
I am not aware of among other Europeans. What, 
for instance, is " Dios guarda Vd." (*' God keep 
you "), said at parting, but the " Allah ihannak " of 
Morocco, or " se lo passe bien," but " B'is-salamah " 
("in peace!"). More might be cited, but to those 
unacquainted with Arabic they would be of little 
interest. 

Then, again, the singing of the country-folk in 
southern Spain has little to distinguish it from that 
indulged in by most Orientals. The same sing- 
song- drawl with numerous variations is noticeable 
throuohout. Once a more civilized tune eets 
among these people for a few months, its very com- 
poser would be unlikely to recognize its prolonga- 
tions and lazy twists. 

The narrow, tortuous streets of the old towns 
once occupied by the invaders take one back across 
the straits, and the whole country is covered with 
spots which, apart from any remains of note, are 
associated by record or legend with anecdotes from 
that page of Spanish history. Here it is the ** Sigh 
of the Moor," the spot from which the last Ameer 
of Andalucia gazed in sorrow on the capital that he 
had lost ; there it is a cave (at Criptana) where the 
Moors found refuge when their power in Castile 
was broken ; elsewhere are the chains (in Toledo) 
with which the devotees of Islam chained their 
Christian captives. 

In addition to this, the hills of a great part 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 337 

of Spain are clotted with fortresses of " tabia " 
(rammed earth concrete) precisely such as are occu- 
pied still by the country kaids of Morocco ; and by 
the wayside are traces of the skill exercised in 
bringing water underground from the hills beyond 
Marrdkesh. How many church towers in Spain 
were built for the call of the mu^dhdhin, and how 
many houses had their foundations laid for hareems ! 
In the south especially such are conspicuous from 
their design. To crown all stand the palaces and 
mosques of C6rdova, Seville, and Grandda, not to 
mention minor specimens. 

When we talk of the Moors in Spain, we often 
forget how nearly we were enabled to speak also of 
the Moors in France. Their brave attempts to 
pass that natural barrier, the Pyrenees, find a suit- 
able monument in the perpetual independence of 
the wee republic of Andorra, whose inhabitants so 
successfully stemmed the tide of invasion. The 
story of Charles Martel, too, the "Hammer" who 
broke the Muslim power in that direction, is one 
of the most important in the history of Europe. 
What if the people who were already levying taxes 
in the districts of Narbonne and Nimes had found 
as easy a victory over the vineyards of southern 
France, as they had over those of Spain ? Where 
would they have stopped .'* Would they ever have 
been driven out, or would St. Paul's have been a 
second K{lttibiya, and Westminster a KarCleein ? 
God knows ! 



338 LIFE IN MOROCCO 



II. Cordova 

The earliest notable monument of Moorish 
dominion in Andalucia still existing is the famous 
mosque of Cordova, now deformed into a cathedral. 
Its erection occupied the period from 786 to 796 
of the Christian era, and it is said that it stands 
on the site of a Gothic church erected on the ruins 
of a still earlier temple dedicated to Janus. Portions, 
however, have been added since that date, as in- 
scriptions on the walls record, and the European 
additions date from 1521, when, notwithstanding 
the protests of the people of Cordova, the bishops 
obtained permission from Charles V. to rear the 
present quasi- Gothic structure in its central court. 
The disgust and anger which the lover of Moorish 
architecture — or art of any sort — feels for the name 
of " Carlos quintal' as at point after point hideous 
additions to the Moorish remains are ascribed to 
that conceited monarch, are somewhat tempered for 
once by the record that even he repented when he 
saw the result of his permission in this instance. 
" You have built here," he said, " what you might 
have built anywhere, and in doing so you have 
spoiled what was unique in the world ! " In each 
of the three great centres of Moorish rule, Seville, 
Granada and Cordova, the same hand is responsible 
for outrageous modern erections in the midst of 
hoary monuments of eastern art, carefully inscribed 
with their author's name, as " Csesar the Emperor, 
Charles the Fifth." 

The Cordova Mosque, antedated only by those 
of Old Cairo and Kairwan, is a forest of marble 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 339 

pillars, with a fine court to the west, surrounded 
by an arcade, and planted with orange trees and 
palms, interspersed with fountains. Nothing in 
Morocco can compare with it save the Kartieein 
mosque at Fez, built a century later, but that build- 
ing is too low, and the pillars are for the most part 
mere brick erections, too short to afford the elegance 
which here delights. This is grand in its simplicity ; 
nineteen aisles of slightly tapering columns of beauti- 
ful marbles, jasper or porphyry, about nine feet in 
height, supporting long vistas of flying horse-shoe 
arches, of which the stones are now coloured 
alternately yellow and red, though probably in- 
tended to be all pure white. Other still more 
elegant scolloped arches, exquisitely decorated by 
carving the plaster, spring between alternate pillars, 
and from arch to arch, presumably more modern 
work. 

The aisles are rather over twenty feet in width, 
and the thirty-three cross vaultings about half as 
much, while the height of the roof is from thirty to 
forty feet. In all, the pillars number about 500, 
though frequently stated to total 850 out of an 
original 141 9, but it is difficult to say where all 
these can be, since the sum of ^:^ by 19 is only 
627, and a deduction has to be made for the 
central court, in which stands the church or choir. 
Since these notes were first published, in 1890, I 
have seen it disputed between modern impressionist 
writers which of them first described the wonderful 
scene as a palm grove, a comparison of which I had 
never heard when I wrote, but the wonder to me 
would be if any one could attempt to picture the 
scene without making use of it. 



340 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Who but a nation of nomads, accustomed to 
obey the call to prayer beneath the waving branches 
of African and Arabian palm-groves, would have 
dreamed of raising such a House of God ? Unless 
for the purpose of supporting a wide and solid roof, 
or of dividing the centre into the form of a cross, 
what other ecclesiastical architects would have con- 
ceived the idea of filling a place of worship with 
pillars or columns ? No one who has walked in a 
palm-grove can fail to be struck by the resemblance 
to it of this remarkable mosque. The very tufted 
heads with their out-curving leaves are here repro- 
duced in the interlacing arches, and with the light 
originally admitted by the central court and the 
great doors, the present somewhat gloomy area 
would have been bright and pleasant as a real 
grove, with its bubbling fountains, and the soothing 
sound of trickling streams. I take the present sky- 
lights to be of modern construction, as I never saw 
such a device in a Moorish building. 

Most of the marble columns are the remains of 
earlier erections, chiefly Roman, like the bridge over 
the Guadalquivir close by, restored by the builder 
of the mosque. Some, indeed, came from Con- 
stantinople, and others were brought from the south 
of France. They are neither uniform in height nor 
girth — some having been pieced at the bottom, and 
others partly buried ; — so also with the capitals, 
certain of which are evidently from the same source 
as the pillars, while the remainder are but rude 
imitations, mostly Corinthian in style. The original 
expenses of the building were furnished by a fifth of 
the booty taken from the Spaniards, with the sub- 
sidies raised in Catalonia and Narbonne. The 




A SHRINE IN CORDOVA MOSQUK 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 341 

Moors supplied voluntary, and European captives 
forced labour. 

On Fridays, when the Faithful met in thousands 
for the noon-day prayer, what a sight and what a 
melody ! The deep, rich tones of the organ may 
add impressiveness to a service of worship, but there 
is nothing in the world so grand, so awe-inspiring 
as the human voice. When a vast body of males 
repeats the formulae of praise, together, but just 
slightly out of time, the effect once heard is never 
forgotten. I have heard it often, and as I walk 
these aisles I hear it ringing in my ears, and can 
picture to myself a close-packed row of white-robed 
figures between each pillar, and rows from end to 
end between, all standing, stooping, or forehead on 
earth, as they follow the motions of the leader before 
them. A grand sight it is, whatever may be one's 
opinion of their religion. In the manner they sit 
on the matted floors of their mosques there would 
be room here for thirteen thousand without using 
the Orange Court, and there is little doubt that on 
days when the Court attended it used to be filled to 
its utmost. 

To the south end of the cathedral the floor of 
two wide aisles is raised on arches, exactly opposite 
the niche which marks the direction of Mekka, and 
the space above is more richly decorated than any 
other portion of the edifice except the niche itself. 
This doubtless formed the spot reserved for the 
Ameer and his Court, screened off on three sides 
to prevent the curiosity of the worshippers over- 
coming their devotion, as is still arranged in 
the mosques which the Sultan of Morocco attends 
in his capitals. Until a few years ago this rich 



342 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

work in arabesque and tiles was hidden by 
plaster. 

The kiblah niche is a gem of its kind. It 
consists of a horse-shoe arch, the face of which 
is ornamented with gilded glass mosaic, forming the 
entrance to a semi-circular recess beautifully adorned 
with arabesques and inscriptions, the top of the 
dome being a large white marble slab hollowed out 
in the form of a pecten shell. The wall over the 
entrance is covered with texts from the Koran, 
forming an elegant design, and on either side are 
niches of lesser merit, but serving to set off the 
central one which formed the kiblah. Eleven 
centuries have elapsed since the hands of the 
workmen left it, and still it stands a witness of 
the pitch of art attained by the Berbers in Spain. 

It is said that here was deposited a copy of the 
Koran written by Othmdn himself, and stained with 
his blood, of such a size that two men could 
hardly lift it. When, for a brief period, the town 
fell into the hands of Alfonso VII., his soldiers used 
the mosque as a stable, and tore up this valuable 
manuscript. When a Moorish Embassy was sent 
to Madrid some years ago, the members paid a 
visit to this relic of the greatness of their fore- 
fathers, and to the astonishment of the custodians, 
having returned to the court-yard to perform the 
required ablutions, re-entered, slippers in hand, to 
go through the acts of worship as naturally as 
if at home. What a strange sight for a Christian 
cathedral ! Right in front of the niche is a plain 
marble tomb with no sign but a plain bar dexter. 
Evidently supposing this to be the resting-place of 
some saint of their own persuasion, they made the 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 343 

customary number of revolutions around it. It would 
be interesting to learn from their lips what their 
impressions were. 

Of the tower which once added to the imposing 
appearance of the building, it is recorded that it had 
no rival in height known to the builders. It was of 
stone, and, like one still standing in Baghdad from 
the days of Harun el Rasheed, had two ways to the 
top, winding one above the other, so that those 
who ascended by the one never met those descend- 
ing by the other. According to custom it was 
crowned by three gilded balls, and it had fourteen 
windows. This was of considerably later date than 
the mosque itself, but has long been a thing of 
the past. 

The European additions to the Cordova mosque 
are the choir, high altar, etc., which by themselves 
would make a fine church, occupying what must 
have been originally a charming court, paved with 
white marble and enlivened by fountains ; the 
tower, built over the main entrance, opening into 
the Court of Oranges ; and a score or two of 
shrines with iron railings in front round the sides, 
containing altars, images, and other fantastic baubles 
to awe the ignorant. An inscription in the tower 
records that it was nearly destroyed by the earth- 
quake of 1755, and though it is the least objection- 
able addition, it is a pity that it did not fall on that 
or some subsequent occasion. It was raised on 
the ruins of its Moorish predecessor in 1593. The 
chief entrance, like that of Seville, is a curious 
attempt to blend Roman architecture with Maur- 
esque, having been restored in 1377, but the result 
is not bad. Recent " restorations " are observable 



344 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

in some parts of the mosque, hideous with colour, 
but a few of the original beams are still visible. 
I am inclined to consider the greater part of the 
roof modern, but could not inspect it closely enough 
to be certain. Though vaulted inside, it is tiled 
in ridges in the usual Moorish style, but very few 
green tiles are to be seen. 

From the tower the view reminds one strongly 
of Morocco. The hills to the north and south, 
with the river winding close to the town across the 
fertile plain, give the scene a striking resemblance 
to that from the tower of the Spanish consulate 
at Tetuan. All around are the still tortuous streets 
of a Moorish town, though the roofs of the houses 
are tiled in ridges of Moorish pattern, as those 
of Tangier were when occupied by the English 
two hundred years ago, and as those of El K'sar 
are now. 

The otherwise Moorish-lookinsf buildingf at one's 
feet is marred by the unsightly erection in the 
centre, and its court-yard seems to have degenerated 
into a play-ground, where the neighbours saunter 
or fill pitchers from the fountains. 

After enduring the apparently unceasing din 
of the bells in those erstwhile stations of the muedh- 
dhin, one ceases to wonder that the lazy Moors 
have such a detestation for them, and make use 
instead of the stirring tones of the human voice. 
Rest and quiet seem impossible in their vicinity, 
for their jarring is simply head-splitting. And as 
if they were not excruciating enough, during " Holy 
Week" they conspire against the ear-drums of 
their victims by revolving a sort of infernal machine 
made of wood in the form of a hollow cross, with 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 345 

four swinging hammervS on each arm which strike 
against iron plates as the thing goes round. The 
keeper's remark that the noise was awful was 
superfluous. 

The history of the town of Cordova has been 
as chequered as that of most Andalucian cities. 
Its foundation is shrouded in obscurity. The 
Romans and Vandals had in turn been its masters 
before the Moors wrested it from the Spaniards 
in the year 710 a.d. Though the Spaniards re- 
gained possession of it in 1075, it was not for long, 
as it soon fell into the hands of the invaders once 
more. The Spanish victors only left a Moorish 
viceroy in charge, who proved too true a Berber 
to serve against his countrymen, so he betrayed 
his trust. In 1236 it was finally recovered by the 
Spaniards, after five hundred and twenty-four years 
of Moorish rule. Since that time the traces of that 
epoch of its history have been gradually disappear- 
ing, till there only remain the mutilated mosque, and 
portions of the ancient palace, or of saint-houses 
(as the side-chapel of the Church of St. Miguel), 
and of a few dwellings. Since the first train 
steamed to this ancient city, in 1859, the railway 
has probably brought as many pilgrims to the 
mosque as ever visited it from other motives in its 
greatest days. 

The industry founded here by the Moors — that 
of tanning — which has given its name to a trade 
in several countries,* seems to have gone with 
them to Morocco, for though many of the old 
tan-pits still exist by the river side, no leather of 
any repute is now produced here. The Moorish 
* Sp. cordovdn^ Fr. cordonnier^ Eng. cordwainer., etc. 



346 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

water-mills are yet at work though, having been 
repaired and renewed on the original model. These, 
as at Granada and other places, are horizontal wheels 
worked from a small spout above, directly under 
the mill-stone, such as is met with in Fez and 
Tetuan. 



III. Seville 

In the Giralda tower of Seville I expected to 
find a veritable Moorish trophy in the best state of 
preservation, open to that minute inspection which 
was impossible in the only complete specimen of 
such a tower, the Kutiibiya, part of a mosque still 
in use. Imagine, then, my regret on arriving at the 
foot of that venerable monument, to find it "spick 
and span," as if just completed, looking new and 
tawdry by the side of the cathedral which has 
replaced the mosque it once adorned. Instead of 
the hoary antiquity to which the rich deep colour 
of the stone of the sister towers in Morocco bears 
witness in their weather-beaten glory, this one, 
built, above the first few stone courses, of inch 
pan-tiles, separated by a like thickness of mortar, 
has the appearance of having been newly pointed 
and rubbed down, while faded frescoes on the walls 
testify to the barbarity of the conquerors of the 
" barbarians." 

The delicate tracery in hewn stone which adds 
so greatly to the beauty of the Morocco and 
Tlem9en examples, is almost entirely lacking, while 
the once tasteful horse-shoe windows are now 
pricked out in red and yellow, with a hideous 
modern balcony of white stone before each. The 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 347 

quasi- Moorish belfry is the most pardonable addi- 
tion, but to crown all is an exhibition of incongruity 
which has no excuse. The original tile-faced turret 
of the Moors, with its gilded balls, has actually been 
replaced by a structure of several storeys, the first 
of which is Doric, the second Ionic, and the third 
Corinthian. Imagine this crowning the comely 
severity of the solid Moorish structure without a 
projecting ornament ! But this is not all. Swing- 
ing in gaunt uneasiness over the whole, stands a 
huge revolving statue, supposed to represent Faith, 
holding out in one hand a shield which catches the 
wind, and causes it to act as a weather-vane. 

Such is the Giralda of the twentieth century, 
and the guide-books are full of praises for the 
restorer, who doubtless deserves great credit for 
his skill in repairing the tower after it had suffered 
severely from lightning, but who might have done 
more towards restoring the original design, at all 
events in the original portion. We read in " Raod 
el Kartas" that the mosque was finished and the 
tower commenced in 1197, during the reign of 
Mulai Yakub el Manstar, who commenced its sisters 
at Marrakesh and Rabat in the same year. One 
architect is recorded to have designed all three — 
indeed, they have little uncommon in their design, 
and have been once almost alike. Some assert 
that this man was a Christian, but there is nothing 
in the style of building to favour such a supposition. 

The plan is that of all the mosque towers of 
Morocco, and the only tower of a mosque in actual 
use which I have ascended in that country — one 
at Mogador — was just a miniature of this. It is, 
therefore, in little else than point of size that these 



348 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

three are remarkable. The similarity between these 
and the recently fallen tower of St. Mark's at Venice 
is most striking, both in design and in the method 
of ascent by an inclined plane ; while around the 
Italian lakes are to be seen others of less size, but 
strongly resembling these. 

All three are square, and consist of six to eight 
storeys in the centre, with thick walls and vaulted 
roof, surrounded by an inclined plane from base to 
summit, at an angle which makes it easy walking, 
and horses have been ridden up. The unfinished 
Hassan Tower at Rabat having at one time become 
a place of evil resort, the reigning ameer ordered 
the way up to be destroyed, but it was found so 
hard that only the first round was cut away, and 
the door bricked up. Each ramp of the Girdlda, 
if I remember rightly, has its window, but in the 
Hassan many are without light, though at least 
every alternate one has a window, some of these 
being placed at the corner to serve for two, while 
here they are always in the centre. The Giralda 
proper contains seven of these storeys, with thirty- 
five ramps. To the top of the eighth storey, which 
is the first addition, dating from the sixteenth 
century, now used as a belfry, the height is about 
220 feet. The present total height is a little over 
300 feet. 

The original turret of the Giralda, similar to 
that at Marrakesh, was destroyed in 1396 by a 
hurricane. The additions were finished in 1598. 
An old view, still in existence, and dating from the 
thirteenth century, shows it in its pristine glory, 
and there is another — Moorish — as old as the 
tower itself. 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 349 

After all that I had read and heard of the 
palace at Seville, I was more disappointed than 
even in the case of the Giralda. Not only does 
it present nothing imposing in the way of Moorish 
architecture, but it has evidently been so much 
altered by subsequent occupants as to have lost 
much of its original charm. To begin with the 
outside, instead of wearing the fine crumbling 
appearance of the palaces of Morocco or Grandda, 
this also had been all newly plastered till it looks 
like a work of yesterday, and coloured a not un- 
becoming red. Even the main entrance has a 
Gothic inscription half way up, and though its 
general aspect is that of Moorish work, on a 
closer inspection, the lower part at least is seen to 
be an imitation, as in many ways the unwritten 
laws of that style have been widely departed from. 
The Gothic inscription states that Don Pedro I. 
built it in 1364. 

Inside, the general ground plan remains much 
as built, but connecting doorways have been opened 
where Moors never put them, and with the exception 
of the big raised tank in the corner, there is nothing 
African about the garden. Even the plan has been 
in places destroyed to obtain rooms of a more suit- 
able width for the conveniences of European life. 
The property is a portion of the Royal patrimony, 
and is from time to time occupied by the reigning 
sovereign when visiting Seville. A marble tablet 
in one of these rooms tells of a queen having been 
born there during the last century. 

Much of the ornamentation on the walls is of 
course original, as well as some of the ceilings and 
doors, but the " restorations " effected at various 



350 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

epochs have greatly altered the face of things. 
Gaudy colours show up both walls and ceilings, 
but at the same time greatly detract from their 
value, besides which there are coarse imitations of 
the genuine tile-work, made in squares, with lines 
in relief to represent the joints, as well as patterns 
painted on the plaster to fill up gaps in the designs. 
Then, too, the most prominent parts of the orna- 
mentation have been disfigured by the interposition 
of Spanish shields and coats-of-arms on tiles. The 
border round the top of the dado is alternated with 
these all the way round some of the rooms. To 
crown all, certain of the fine old doors, resembling 
a wooden patchwork, have been "restored" with 
plaster-of- Paris. Some of the arabesques which 
now figure on these walls were actually pillaged 
from the Alhambra. 

Many of the Arabic inscriptions have been 
pieced so as to render them illegible, and some 
have been replaced upside down, while others tell 
their own tale, for they ascribe glory and might to 
a Spanish sovereign, Don Pedro the Cruel, instead 
of to a " Leader of the Faithful." A reference to 
the history of the country tells us that this ruler 
"reconstructed" the palace of the Moors, while 
later it was repaired by Don Juan II., before 
Ferdinand and Isabella built their oratories within 
its precincts, or Charles V., with his mania for " im- 
proving" these monuments of a foreign dominion, 
doubled it in size. For six centuries this work, 
literally of spoliation, has been proceeding in the 
hands of successive owners ; what other result than 
that arrived at, could be hoped for ? 

When this is realized, the greater portion of 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 351 

the historic value of this palace vanishes, and its 
original character as a Moorish palace is seen to 
have almost disappeared. There still, however, 
remains the indisputable fact, apparent from what 
does remain of the work of its builders, that it was 
always a work of art and a trophy of the skill of 
its designers, those who have interfered with it 
subsequently having far from improved it. 

According to Arab historians, the foundations 
of this palace were laid in 1171 a.d. and it was 
reconstructed between 1353 and 1364. In 1762 
a fire did considerable damage, which was not 
repaired till 1805. The inscriptions are of no 
great historical interest. " Wa Id ghalib ild Allah " 
— " there is none victorious but God " — abounds 
here, as at the Alhambra, and there are some very 
neat specimens of the Kufic character. 

Of Moorish Seville, apart from the Girdlda 
and the Palace — El Kasar, corrupted into Alcazar 
— the only remains of importance are the Torre 
del Oro — Borj ed-Daheb — built in 1220 at the 
riverside, close to where the Moors had their bridge 
of boats, and the towers of the churches of SS. 
Marcos and Marina. Others there are, built in 
imitation of the older erections, often by Moorish 
architects, as those of the churches of Omnium 
Sanctorum, San Nicolas, Ermita de la Virgen, and 
Santa Catalina. Many private houses contain 
arches, pillars, and other portions of Moorish 
buildings which have preceded them, such as are 
also to be found in almost every town of southern 
Spain. As late as 1565 the town had thirteen 
gates more or less of Moorish origin, but these 
have all long since disappeared. 



3S'^ LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Seville was one of the first cities to surrender 
to the Moors after the battle of Guadalete, a.d. 711, 
and remained in their hands till taken by St. 
Ferdinand after fifteen months' siege in 1248, six 
years after its inhabitants had thrown off their 
allegiance to the Emperor of Morocco, and formed 
themselves into a sort of republic, and ten years 
after the Moorish Kinedom of Granada was founded. 
It then became the capital of Spain till Charles V. 
removed the Court to Valladolid. 



IV. Granada 

"O Palace Red! From distant lands I have 
come to see thee, believing thee to be a garden in 
spring, but I have found thee as a tree in autumn. 
I thought to see thee with my heart full of joy, but 
instead my eyes have filled with tears." 

So wrote in the visitors' album of the Alhambra, 
in 1876, an Arab poet in his native tongue, and 
another inscription in the same volume, written by 
a Moor some years before, remarks, " Peace be on 
thee, O Granada ! We have seen thee and admired 
thee, and have said, * Praised be he who constructed 
thee, and may they who destroyed thee receive 
mercy.* " 

As the sentiments of members of the race of its 
builders, these expressions are especially interesting ; 
but they can hardly fail to be shared to some extent 
by visitors from eastern lands, of whatever nationality. 
Although the loveliest monument of Moorish art in 
Spain, and a specimen of their highest architectual 
skill, destructions, mutilations, and restorations have 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 353 

wrought so much damage to it that it now stands, 
indeed, "as a tree in autumn." It was not those 
who conquered the Moors on whom mercy was 
implored by the writer quoted — for they, Ferdinand 
and Isabella, did their best to preserve their trophy 
— but on such of their successors as Charles V., 
who actually planted a still unfinished palace right 
among the buildings of this venerable spot, adjoin- 
ing the remains of the Alhambra, part of which it 
has doubtless replaced. 

This unartistic Austrian styled these remains 
"the ugly abominations of the Moors," and forth- 
with proceeded to erect really ugly structures. But 
the most unpardonable destroyers of all that the 
Moors left beautiful were, perhaps, the French, 
who in 18 10 entered Granada with hardly a blow, 
and under Sebastian practically desolated the 
palace. They turned it into barracks and store- 
houses, as inscriptions on its walls still testify — 
notably on the sills of the " Miranda de la Reina." 
Ere they left in 18 12, they even went so far as 
to blow up eight of the towers, the remainder only 
escaping through the negligence of an employee, and 
the fuses were put out by an old Spanish soldier. 

The Spaniards having thus regained possession, 
the commissioners appointed to look after it "sold 
everything for themselves, and then, like good 
patriots, reported that the invaders had left nothing." 
After a brief respite in the care of an old woman, 
who exhibited more sense in the matter than all 
the generals who had perpetrated such outrages 
upon it, the Alhambra was again desecrated by a 
new Governor, who used it as a store of salt fish 
for the galley slaves. 

2 A 



354 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

While the old woman — Washington Irving's 
"Tia Antonia" — was in possession, that famous 
writer did more than any one to restore the ancient 
fame of the palace by coming to stay there, and 
writing his well-known account of his visit. Mr. 
Forde, and his friend Mr. Addington, the British 
Ambassador, helped to remind people of its exis- 
tence, and saved what was left. Subsequent civil 
wars have, however, afforded fresh opportunities 
of injury to its hoary walls, and to-day it stands a 
mere wreck of what it once was. 

The name by which these buildings are now 
known is but the adjective by which the Arabs 
described it, ** El Hamra," meaning " The Red," 
because of its colour outside. When occupied it 
was known only as either *' The Palace of Grandda," 
or "The Red Palace." The colour of the earth 
here is precisely that of the plains of Dukala and 
Marrdkesh, and the buildings, being all constructed 
of tabia, are naturally of that colour. In no part 
of Spain could one so readily imagine one's self in 
Morocco ; indeed, it is hard to realize that one is 
not there till the new European streets are reached. 
In the palace grounds, apart from the fine carriage- 
drive, with its seats and lamp-posts, when out of 
sight of the big hotels and other modern erections, 
the delusion is complete. Even in the town the 
running water and the wayside fountains take one 
back to Fez ; and the channels underneath the 
pavements with their plugs at intervals are only 
Moorish ones repaired. On walking the crooked 
streets of the part which formed the town of four 
centuries ago, on every hand the names are Moorish. 
Here is the Kaisariya, restored after a fire in 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 355 

1 843 ; there is the street of the grain fandaks, and 
beyond is a hammam, now a dwelling'-house. 

The site of the chief mosque is now the cathe- 
dral, in the chief chapel of which are buried the 
conquerors of Granada. There lie Ferdinand and 
Isabella in plain iron-bound leaden coffins — far 
from the least interesting sights of the place — 
in a spot full of memories of that contest which 
they considered the event of their lives, and which 
was indeed of such vital importance to the country. 
The inscription on their marble tomb in the church 
above tells how that the Moors having been con- 
quered and heresy stamped out (?), that worthy 
couple took their rest. The very atmosphere of 
the place seems charged with reminiscences of the 
Moors and their successful foes, and here the spirits 
of Prescott and Gayangos, the historians, seem to 
linger still. 

On either side of the high altar are extremely 
interesting painted carvings. On one is figured the 
delivering up of the Alhambra. Ferdinand, Isa- 
bella and Mendoza ride in a line, and the latter 
receives the key in his gloved hand as the con- 
quered king offers him the ring end, followed by a 
long row of captives. Behind the victors ride their 
knights and dames. On the other the Moors and. 
Mooresses are seen being christened wholesale by 
the monks, their dresses being in some respects 
remarkably correct in detail, but with glaring defects 
in others, just what might be expected from one 
whose acquaintance with them was recent but 
brief. 

Before these carvings kneel real likenesses of 
the royal couple in wood, and on the massive 



356 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

square tomb in front they repose in alabaster. A 
fellow-tomb by their side has been raised to the 
memory of their immediate successors. In the 
sacristry are to be seen the very robes of Cardinal 
Mendoza, and his missal, with the sceptre and 
jewel-case of Isabella, and the sword of Ferdinand, 
while that of the conquered Bli Abd Allah is 
on view elsewhere. Here, too, are the standards 
unfurled on the day of the recapture, January 2, 
1492, and a picture full of interest, recording the 
adieux of " Boabdil " and Ferdinand, who, after 
their bitter contest, have shaken hands and are 
here falling on each other's necks. 

As a model of Moorish art, the palace of 
Granada, commenced in 1248, is a monument of 
its latest and most refined period. The heavy and 
comparatively simple styles of Cordova and Seville 
are here amplified and refined, the result being the 
acme of elegance and oriental taste. This I say 
from personal acquaintance with the temples of the 
far East, although those present a much more 
gorgeous appearance, and are much more costly 
erections, evincing a degree of architectural ability 
and the possession of hoards of wealth beside 
which what the builders of the Alhambra could 
boast of was insignificant ; nor do I attempt to com- 
pare these interesting relics with the equally familiar 
immensity of ancient masonry, or with the magnifi- 
cent work of the Middle Ages still existing in 
Europe. These monuments hold a place of their 
own, unique and unassailable. They are the 
mementoes of an era in the history of Europe, not 
only of the Peninsula, and the interest which 
attaches itself to them even on this score alone 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 357 

is very great. As relics on a foreign soil, they 
have stood the storms of five centuries under the 
most trying circumstances, and the simplicity of 
their components lends an additional charm to the 
fabric. They are to a great extent composed of 
what are apparently the weakest materials — mud, 
gypsum, and wood ; the marble and tiles are but 
adornments. 

From without the appearance of the palace has 
been well described as that of " reddish cork models 
rising out of a girdle of trees." On a closer inspec- 
tion the " cork " appears like red sandstone, and one 
wonders how it has stood even one good storm. 
There is none of that facing of stone which gives 
most other styles of architecture an appearance of 
durability, and whatever facing of plaster it may 
once have possessed has long since disappeared. 
But inside all is different. Instead of crumbling 
red walls, the courts and apartments are highly 
ornamented with what we now call plaster-of- Paris, 
but which the Moors have long prepared by roasting 
the gypsum in rude kilns, calling it " gibs." 

A full description of each room or court-yard 
would better become a guide-book, and to those 
who have the opportunity of visiting the spot, I 
would recommend Ford's incomparable " Hand- 
book to Spain," published by Murray, the older 
the edition the better. To those who can read 
Spanish, the " Estudio descriptivo de los Monu- 
mentos arabes," by the late Sr. Contreras (Govern- 
ment restorer of the Moorish remains in Spain), to 
be obtained in Grandda, is well worth reading. 
Such information as a visitor would need to correct 
the mistaken impressions of these and other writers 



3S^ LIFE IN MOROCCO 

ignorant of Moorish usages as to the original 
purpose of the various apartments, I have em- 
bodied in Macmillan's " Guide to the Western 
Mediterranean." 

Certain points, however, either for their archi- 
tectural merit or historic interest, cannot be passed 
over. Such is the Court of the Lions, of part of 
which a model disfigured by garish painting may be 
seen at the Crystal Palace. In some points it is 
resembled by the chief court of the mosque of the 
Karfaeein at Fez. In the centre is that strange 
departure from the injunctions of the Kordn which 
has given its name to the spot, the alabaster fountain 
resting on the loins of twelve beasts, called, by 
courtesy, " lions." They remind one rather of cats. 
" Their faces barbecued, and their manes cut like 
the scales of a griffin, and the legs like bed-posts ; a 
water-pipe stuck in their mouths does not add to 
their dignity." In the inscription round the basin 
above, among flowery phrases belauding the 
fountain, and suggesting that the work is so fine 
that it is difficult to distinguish the water from the 
alabaster, the spectator is comforted with the 
assurance that they cannot bite ! 

The court is surrounded by the usual tiled 
verandah, supported by one hundred and twenty- 
two light and elegant white marble pillars, the arches 
between which show some eleven different forms. 
At each end is a portico jutting out from the 
verandahs, and four cupolas add to the appearance 
of the roofs. The length of the court is twice its 
width, which is sixty feet, and on each side lies a 
beautiful decorated apartment with the unusual 
additions of jets of water from the floor in the 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 359 

centre of each, as also before each of the three doors 
apiece of the long narrow Moorish rooms, and under 
the two porticoes. The overflows, instead of being 
hidden pipes, are channels in the marble pavement, 
for the Moors were too great lovers of rippling 
water to lose the opportunity as we cold-blooded 
northerners would. 

To fully realize the delights of such a place one 
must imagine it carpeted with the products of Rabat, 
surrounded by soft mattresses piled with cushions, 
and with its walls hung with a dado of dark-coloured 
felt cloths of various colours, interworked to represent 
pillars and arches such as surround the gallery, and 
showing up the beautiful white of the marble by con- 
trast. Thus furnished — in true Moorish style — the 
place should be visited on a hot summer's day, after 
a wearisome toil up the hill from the town. Then, 
lolling among the cushions, and listening to the 
splashing water, if strong sympathy is not felt 
with the builders of the palace, who thought it a 
paradise, the visitor ought never to have left his 
armchair by the fire-side at home. 

If, instead of wasting money on re-plastering the 
walls until they look ready for papering, and then 
scratching geometrical designs upon them in a style 
no Moor ever dreamed of, the Spanish Government 
would entrust a Moor of taste to decorate it in his own 
native style, without the modern European additions, 
they would do far better and spend less. One step 
further, and the introduction of Moorish guides and 
caretakers who spoke Spanish — easy to obtain — • 
would add fifty per cent, to the interest of the place. 
Then fancy the Christian and Muslim knights meet- 
ing in single combat on the plains beneath those 



36o LIFE IN MOROCCO 

walls. People once more the knolls and pastures 
with the turban and the helm, fill in the colours 
of robe and plume ; oh, what a picture it would 
make! 

Doubtless similar apartments for the hareem 
exist in the recesses of the palaces of Fez, Me- 
quinez, Marrakesh and Rabat. Some very fine 
work is to be seen in the comparatively public 
parts, in many respects equalling this, and certainly 
better than that of the palace of Seville. Various 
alterations and " restorations " have been effected 
from time to time in this as in other parts of the 
palace, notably in the fountain, the top part of 
which is modern. It is probable that originally 
there was only one basin, resting immediately on 
the ** lions" below. Its date is given as 1477 a.d. 

The room known for disputed reasons as the 
Hall of the Two Sisters was originally a bedroom. 
The entrance is one of the most elaborate in the 
palace, and its w^ooden ceiling, pieced to resemble 
stalactites, is a charming piece of work, as also are 
those of the other important rooms of the palace. 

Another apartment opening out of the Court of 
Lions, known as the Hall of Justice — most likely in 
error — contains one of the most curious remains in 
the palace, another departure from the precepts of 
the religion professed by its builders. This is no 
less than a series of pictures painted on skins sewn 
together, glued and fastened to the wooden dome 
with tinned tacks, and covered with a fine coating 
of gypsum, the gilt parts being in relief. Though 
the date of their execution must have been in the 
fourteenth century, the colours are still clear and 
firesh. The picture in the centre of the three domes 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 361 

is supposed by some to represent ten Moorish kings 
of Grandda, though it is more Hkely meant for ten 
wise men in council. On the other two ceilings are 
pictures, one of a lady holding a chained lion, on the 
point of being delivered from a man in skins by a 
European, who is afterwards slain by a mounted 
Moor. The other is of a boar-hunt and people drink- 
ing at a fountain, with a man up a tree in a dress 
which looks remarkably like that of the eighteenth 
century in England, wig and all. This work must 
have been that of some Christian renegade, though 
considerable discussion has taken place over the 
authorship. It is most likely that the lions are of 
similar origin, sculptured by some one who had but 
a remote idea of the king of the forest. 

After the group of apartments surrounding the 
Court of the Lions, the most valuable specimen of 
Moorish architecture is that known as the Hall of 
the Ambassadors, probably once devoted to official 
interviews, as its name denotes. This is the largest 
room in the palace, occupying the upper floor in one 
of the massive towers which defended the citadel, 
overlooking the Vega and the remains of the camp- 
town of Santa Fe, built during the siege by the 
"Catholic Kings." The thickness of its walls is 
therefore immense, and the windows look like little 
tunnels ; under it are dungeons. The hall is thirty- 
seven feet square, and no less than seventy-five feet 
high in the centre of the roof, which is not the 
original one. Some of the finest stucco wall decora- 
tion in the place is to be seen here, with elegant 
Arabic inscriptions, in the ancient style of ornamental 
writing known as Kufic, most of the instances of the 
latter meaning, " O God, to Thee be endless praise, 



362 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

and thanks ascending." Over the windows are 
lines in cursive Arabic, ascribing victory and glory 
to the " leader of the resigned, our lord the father of 
the pilgrims" (Yusef I.), with a prayer for his wel- 
fare, while everywhere is to be seen here,^as in other 
parts, the motto, '* and there is none victorious but 
God." 

Between the two blocks already described lie 
the baths, the undressing-room of which has been 
very creditably restored by the late Sr. Contreras, 
and looks splendid. It is, in fact, a covered patio 
with the gallery of the next floor running round, and 
as no cloth hangings or carpets could be used here, 
the walls and floor are fully decorated with stucco 
and tiles. The inner rooms are now in fair condi- 
tion, and are fitted with marble, though the boiler 
and pipes were sold long ago by a former " keeper " 
of the palace. The general arrangement is just the 
same as that of the baths in Morocco. 

One room of the palace was fitted up by Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella as a chapel, the gilt ornaments of 
which look very gaudy by the side of the original 
Moorish work. Opening out of this is a little gem 
of a mosque, doubtless intended for the royal devo- 
tions alone, as it is too small for a company. 

Surrounding the palace proper are several other 
buildings forming part of the Alhambra, which must 
not be overlooked. Among them are the two 
towers of the Princesses and the Captives, both of 
which have been ably repaired. In the latter are 
to be seen tiles of a peculiar rosy tint, not met with 
elsewhere. In the Dar Aishah ('' Gabinete de 
Lindaraxa" — "x" pronounced as "sh") are excellent 
specimens of those with a metallic hue, resembling 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 363 

the colours on the surface of tar- water. Ford points 
out that it was only in these tiles that the Moors 
employed any but the primary colours, with gold for 
yellow. This is evident, and holds good to the 
present day. Both these towers give a perfect 
idea of a Moorish house of the better class in 
miniature. Outside the walls are of the rough red of 
the mud concrete, while inside they are nearly all 
white, and beautifully decorated. The thickness of 
the walls keeps them delightfully cool, and the 
crooked passages render the courts in the centre 
quite private. 

Of the other towers and gates, the only notable 
one is that of Justice, a genuine Moorish erection 
with a turning under it to stay the onrush of an 
enemy, and render it easier of defence. The hand 
carved on the outer arch and the key on the inner 
one have given rise to many explanations, but their 
only significance was probably that this gate was 
the key of the castle, while the hand was to protect 
the key from the effects of the evil eye. This 
superstition is still popular, and its practice is to be 
seen to-day on thousands of doors in Morocco, in 
rudely painted hands on the doorposts. 

The Watch Tower (de la Vela) is chiefly note- 
worthy as one of the points from which the Spanish 
flag was unfurled on the memorable day of the 
entry into Grandda. The anniversary of that date, 
January 2nd, is a high time for the young ladies, 
who flock here to toll the bell in the hopes of being 
provided with a husband during the new-begun 
year. 

At a short distance from the Alhambra itself is 
a group known as the Torres Bermejas (Vermilion 



364 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Towers), probably the most ancient of the Moorish 
reign, if part did not exist before their settlement 
here, but they present no remarkable architectural 
features. 

Across a little valley Is the Generalife, a charm- 
ing summer residence built about 1320, styled by its 
builder the " Paradise of the Wise," — Jinah el Arif 
— which the Spaniards have corrupted to its present 
designation, pronouncing it Kheneraliffy. Truly 
this is a spot after the Moor's own heart : a 
luxuriant garden with plenty of dark greens against 
white walls and pale-blue trellis-work, harmonious 
at every turn with the rippling and splashing of 
nature's choicest liquid. Of architectural beauty the 
buildings in this garden have but little, yet as speci- 
mens of Moorish style — though they have suffered 
with the rest — they form a complement to the Alham- 
bra. That is the typical fortress-palace, the abode 
of a martial Court ; this is the pleasant resting-place, 
the cool retreat for love and luxury. Nature is here 
predominant, and Art has but a secondary place, for 
once retaining her true position as great Nature's 
handmaid. Light arched porticoes and rooms 
behind serve but as shelter from the noonday glare, 
while roomy turrets treat the occupier to delightful 
views. Superfluous ornament within is not allowed 
to interfere with the contemplation of beauty 
without. 

Between the lower and upper terrace is a re- 
markable arrangement of steps, a Moorish ideal, for 
at equal distances from top to bottom, between each 
flight, are fountains playing in the centre, round 
which one must walk, while a stream runs down the 
top of each side wall in a channel made of tiles. 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 365 

What a pleasant sight and sound to those to whom 
stair climbing in a broiling sun is too much exercise ! 
The cypresses in the garden are very fine, but they 
give none too much shade. The present owner's 
agent has Bu Abd Allah's sword on view at his 
house in the town, and this is a gem worth asking 
to see when a ticket is obtained for the Generalife. 
It is of a totally different pattern and style of orna- 
ment from the modern Moorish weapons, being 
inlaid in a very clever and tasteful manner. 

To the antiquary the most interesting part of 
Granada is the Albaycin, the quarter lying highest 
up the valley of the Darro, originally peopled by 
refugees from the town of Baeza — away to the 
north, beyond Jaen — the Baiseein. As the last 
stronghold of Moorish rule in the Peninsula, when 
one by one the other cities, once its rivals, fell into 
the hands of the Christians again, Granada became 
a centre of refuge from all parts, and to this owed 
much of its ultimate importance. 

Unfortunately no attempt has been made to pre- 
serve the many relics of that time which still exist 
in this quarter, probably the worst in the town. 
Many owners of property in the neighbourhood can 
still display the original Arabic title deeds, their 
estates having been purchased by Spanish grandees 
from the expelled Moors, or later from the expelled 
Jews. A morning's tour will reveal much of 
interest in back alleys and ruined courts. One 
visitor alone is hardly safe among the wild half- 
gipsy lot who dwell there now, but a few copper 
coins are all the keys needed to gain admission 
to some fine old patios with marble columns, 
crumbling fandaks, and ruined baths. By the 



366 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

roadside may be seen the identical style of water- 
mill still used in Morocco, and the presence of the 
Spaniard seems a dream. 



V. Hither and Thither 

Having now made pilgrimages to the more 
famous homes of the Moor in Europe, let us in 
fancy take an aerial flight over sunny Spain, and 
glance here and there at the scattered traces of 
Muslim rule in less noted quarters. Everything 
we cannot hope to spy, but we may still surprise 
ourselves and others by the number of our finds. 
Even this task accomplished, a volume on the sub- 
ject might well be written by a second Borrow or a 
Ford, whose residence among the modern Moors 
had sharpened his scent for relics of that ilk.* Let 
not the reader think that with these wayside jot- 
tings all has been disclosed, for the Moor yet lives 
in Spain, and there is far more truth in the saying 
that " Barbary begins at the Pyrenees " than is 
generally imagined. 

We will start from Tarifa, perhaps the most 
ancient town of Andalucia. The Moors named 
this ancient Punic city after T'arif ibn Malek ('* The 
Wise, son of King"), a Berber chief. They be- 
leaguered it about 1292, and it is still enclosed 
by Moorish walls. The citadel, a genuine Moorish 
castle, lies just within these walls, and was not so 
long ago the abode of galley-slaves. Close to 
Seville, where the river Guadalquivir branches off, 

* To the latter I am indebted for particulars regarding the many 
places mentioned in this final survey which it was impossible for me 
to visit. 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 367 

it forms two islands — Islas Mayor y Menor. The 
former was the Kaptal of the Moors. At Coria 
the river winds under the Moorish " Castle of the 
Cleft" (El Faraj), now called St. Juan de Alfarache, 
and passes near the Torre del Oro, a monument 
of the invader already referred to. Old Xeres, of 
sherry fame, is a straggling, ill-built, ill-drained 
Moorish city. It was taken from the Moors in 
1264. Part of the original walls and gates remain 
in the old town. The Moorish citadel is well pre- 
served, and offers a good specimen of those turreted 
and walled palatial fortresses. 

But it is not till we reach Seville that we come 
to a museum of Moorish antiquities. Here we see 
Arabesque ceilings, marqueterie woodwork, stucco 
panelling, and the elegant horse-shoe arches. There 
are beautiful specimens in the citadel, in Calle 
Pajaritos No. 15, in the Casa Prieto and elsewhere. 
The Moors possessed the city for five hundred 
years, during which time they entirely rebuilt it, 
using the Roman buildings as materials. Many 
Moorish houses still exist, the windows of which 
are barricaded with iron gratings. On each side 
of the patios, or courts, are corridors supported by 
marble pillars, whilst a fountain plays in the centre. 
These houses are rich in Moorish porcelain tilings, 
called azulejos — from the Arabic ez-zulaij — but the 
best of these are in the patio of the citadel. Car- 
mona is not far off, with its oriental walls and 
castle, famous as ever for its grateful springs. The 
tower of San Pedro transports us again to Tangier, 
as do the massy walls and arched gate. 

Some eight leagues on the way to Badajos from 
Seville rises a Moorish tower, giving to the adjoining 



368 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

village the name of Castillo de las Guardias. 
Five leagues beyond are the mines of the " Inky 
River " — Rio Tinto — a name sufficiently expressive 
and appropriate, for it issues from the mountain- 
side impregnated with copper, and is consequently 
corrosive. The Moors seem to have followed the 
Romans in their workings on the north side of the 
hill. Further on are more mines, still proclaiming 
the use the Moors made of them by their present 
name Almadin — " the Mine " — a name which has 
almost become Spanish ; it is still so generally used. 
Five leagues from Rio Tinto, at Aracena, is another 
Moorish castle, commanding a fine panorama, and 
the belfry of the church hard by is Arabesque. 

Many more of these ruined kasbahs are to be 
seen upon the heights of Andalucia, and even 
much further north ; but the majority must go un- 
mentioned. One, in an equally fine position, is to 
be seen eleven leagues along the road from Seville 
to Badajos, above Santa Olalla — a name essentially 
Moorish, denoting the resting-place of some female 
Mohammedan saint, whose name has been lost sight 
of. (Lallah, or *' Lady," is the term always pre- 
fixed to the names of canonized ladies in Morocco.) 
Three leagues from Seville on the Granada road, 
at Gandul, lies another of these castles, picturesquely 
situated amid palms and orange groves ; four 
leagues beyond, the name Arahal (er-rahdlah — 
" the day's journey") reminds the Arabicist that it is 
time to encamp ; a dozen leagues further on the 
name of Roda recalls its origin, raodah, " the ceme- 
tery." Riding into Jaen on the top of the diligence 
from Granada, I was struck with the familiar 
appearance of two brown tabia fortresses above the 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 369 

town, giving the hillside the appearance of one of 
the lower slopes of the Atlas. This was a place 
after the Moors' own heart, for abundant springs 
gush everywhere from the rocks. In their days it 
was for a time the capital of an independent 
kingdom. 

At Ronda, a town originally built by the Moors 
— for Old Ronda is two leagues away to the north, 
— their once extensive remains have been all but 
destroyed. Its tortuous streets and small houses, 
however, testify as to its origin, and its Moorish castle 
still appears to guard the narrow ascent by which 
alone it can be reached from the land, for it crowns a 
river-girt rock. Down below, this river, the Guadal- 
vin, still turns the same rude class of corn-mills that 
we have seen at Fez and Grandda. Other rem- 
nants are another Moorish tower in the Calle del 
Puente Viejo, and the " House of the Moorish 
King" in Calle San Pedro, dating from about 1042. 
Descending to the river's edge by a flight of stairs 
cut in the solid rock, there is a grotto dug by 
Christian slaves three centuries later. Some five 
leagues on the road thence to Grandda are the 
remains of the ancient Teba, at the siege of 
which in 1328, when it was taken from the Moors, 
Lord James Douglas fought in obedience to the 
dying wish of the Bruce his master, whose heart 
he wore in a silver case hung from his neck, 
throwing it among the enemy as he rushed in 
and fell. 

On the way from Ronda to Gibraltar are a 
number of villages whose Arab names are startling 
even in this land of Ishmaelitish memories. Among 
these are Atajate, Gaucin, Benahali, Benarraba, 

2 E 



370 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Benadalid, Benalaurin. At Gaucin an excellent view 
of Gibraltar and Jibel Musa is obtainable from its 
Moorish citadel. This brings us to old " Gib," whose 
relics of Tarik and his successors are much better 
known to travellers than most of those minor remains. 
An inscription over the gate of the castle, now a 
prison, tells of its erection over eleven centuries ago, 
for this was naturally one of the early captures of 
the invaders. Yet the mud-concrete walls stand firm 
and sound, though scarred by many a shot. Alge- 
ciras — El Jazirah — " the Island " has passed through 
too many vicissitudes to have much more than the 
name left. 

Malaga, though seldom heard of in connection 
with the history of Mohammedan rule in the Penin- 
sula, played a considerable part in that drama. It 
and Cadiz date far back to the time of the Car- 
thaginians, so that, after all, their origin is African. 
If its name is not of an earlier origin, it may be from 
Malekah, "the Queen." Every year on August i8, 
at 3 p.m. the great bell of the cathedral is struck 
thrice, for that is the anniversary of its recovery 
from the Aliens in 1487. The flag of Ferdinand 
then hoisted is (or was recently) still to be seen, 
together with a Moorish one, probably that of the 
vanquished city, over the tomb of the Conde de 
Buena Vista in the convent of La Victoria. Though 
odd bits of Moorish architecture may still be met 
with in places, the only remains of note are the 
castle, built in 1279, with its fine horse-shoe gate — 
sadly disfigured by modern barbarism — and what 
was the dockyard of the Moors, now left high and 
dry by the receding sea. 

The name Alhama, met with in several parts of 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 371 

Spain, merely denotes "the hot," alluding to springs 
of that character which are in most instances still 
active. This is the case at the Alhama between 
Malaga and Granada, where the baths are worth 
a visit. The Moorish bath is called the strong 
one, being nearer the spring. 

At Antequera the castle is Moorish, though 
built on Roman foundations, and it is only of recent 
years that the mosque has disappeared under the 
** protection " of an impecunious governor. 

Leaving the much-sung Andalus, the first name 
striking us in Murcia is that of Guadix (pronounced 
Wadish), a corruption of Wad Aish, " River of Life." 
Its Moorish castle still stands. Some ten leagues 
further on, at Cullar de Baza is another Moorish 
ruin, and the next of note, a fine specimen, is fifteen 
leagues away at Lorca, whose streets are in the 
genuine intricate style. The city of Murcia, though 
founded by the Moors, contains little calling them 
to remembrance. In the post-office and prison, 
however, and in the public granary, mementoes are 
to be found. 

Orihuela, on the road from Carthagena to 
Alicante, still looks oriental with its palm-trees, 
square towers and domes, and Elche is just another 
such, with flat roofs and the orthodox kasbah, now 
a prison. The enormous number of palms which 
surround the town recall Marrakesh, but they are 
sadly neglected. Monte Alegre is a small place 
with a ruined Moorish cr'^tle, about fifteen leagues 
from Elche on the road to Madrid. Between 
Alicante and Xativa is the Moorish castle of Tibi, 
close to a large reservoir, and there is a square 
Moorish tower at Concentaina. Xativa has a 



372 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

hermitage, San Felin, adorned with horse-shoe 
arches, having a Moorish cistern hard by, 

Valencia the Moors considered a Paradise, and 
their skill in irrigation has been retained, so that of 
the Guadalaviar (Wad el Abiad — " River of the 
Whites ") the fullest use is made in agriculture, and 
the familiar water-wheels and conduits go by the 
corruptions of their Arabic names, naorahs and 
sakkdiahs. The city itself is very Moorish in 
appearance, with its narrow tortuous streets and 
gloomy buildings, but I know of no remarkable 
legacy of the Moors there. There are the remains 
of a Moorish aqueduct at Chestalgdr — a very Arabic 
sounding name, of which the last two syllables are 
corrupted from El Ghdrb ("the West") as in the 
case of Trafalgar (Terf el Ghdrb— "West Point"). 
All this district was inhabited by the Moriscos or 
Christianized Moors as late as the beginning of 
the seventeenth century, and there must their de- 
scendants live still, although no longer distinguished 
from true sons of the soil. 

Whatever may remain of the ancient Saguntum, 
what is visible is mostly Moorish, as, for instance, 
cisterns on the site of a Roman temple. Not far 
from Valencia is Burjasot, where are yet to be seen 
specimens of matmorahs or underground granaries. 
Morella is a scrambling town with Moorish walls 
and towers, coroneted by a castle. 

Entering Catalonia, Tortosa, at the mouth of 
the Ebro, is reached, once a stronghold of the 
Moors, and a nest of pirates till recovered by 
Templars, Pisans and Genoese together. It was 
only withheld from the Moors next year by the 
valour of the women besieged. The tower of the 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 373 

cathedral still bears the title of Almudena, a re- 
minder of the muedhdhin who once summoned 
Muslims to prayer from its summit. Here, too, are 
sundry remnants of Moorish masonry, and some 
ancient matmorahs. 

Tarragona and Barcelona, if containing no 
Moorish ruins of note, have all, in common with 
other neighbouring places, retained the Arabic name 
Rambla (rimlah, " sand ") for the quondam sandy 
river beds which of late years have been transformed 
into fashionable promenades. In the cathedral of 
Tarragona an elegant Moorish arch is noticeable, 
with a Kufic inscription giving the date as 960 a.d. 
For four centuries after this city was destroyed by 
Tarif it remained unoccupied, so that much cannot 
be expected to call to mind his dynasty. Of a 
bridge at Martorell over the Llobregat, Ford says 
it is " attributed to Hannibal by the learned, and to 
the devil, as usual, by the vulgar. The pointed 
centre arch, which is very steep and narrow to pass, 
is 133 feet wide in the span, and is unquestionably 
a work of the Moors." Not far away is a place 
whose name, Mequineza, is strongly suggestive 
of Moorish origin, but I know nothing further 
about it. 

Now let us retrace our flight, and wing our way 
once more to the north of Seville, to the inland 
province of Estremadura. Here we start from 
M^rida, where the Roman-Moorish "alcazar" towers 
proudly yet. The Moors repaired the old Roman 
bridge over the Guadiana, and the gateway near 
the river has a marble tablet with an Arabic in- 
scription. The Muslims observed towards the 
people of this place good faith such as was never 



374 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

shown to them in return, inasmuch as they allowed 
them to retain their temples, creed, and bishops. 
They built the citadel in 835, and the city dates 
its decline from the time that Alonzo el Sabio took 
it from them in 1229. Zamora is another ancient 
place. It was taken from the Moors in 939, when 
40,000 of them are said to have been killed. The 
Moorish designs in the remarkable circular arches of 
La Magdalena are worthy of note. 

In Toledo the church of Santo Tome has a 
brick tower of Moorish character ; near it is the 
Moorish bridge of San Martin, and in the neigh- 
bourhood, by a stream leading to the Tagus, 
Moorish mills and the ruins of a villa with Moorish 
arches, now a farm hovel, may still be seen. The 
ceiling of the chapel of the church of San Juan de 
la Penetencia is in the Moorish style, much dilapi- 
dated (151 1 A.D.). The Toledan Moors were first- 
rate hydraulists. One of their kings had a lake 
in his palace, and in the middle a kiosk, whence 
water descended on each side, thus enclosing 
him in the coolest of summer-houses. It was in 
Toledo that Ez-Zarkal made water-clocks for astro- 
nomical calculations, but now this city obtains its 
water only by the primitive machinery of donkeys, 
which are driven up and down by water-carriers as 
in Barbary itself. The citadel was once the kasbah 
of the Moors. 

The Cathedral of Toledo is one of the most 
remarkable in Spain. The arches of the transept 
are semi-Moorish, Xamete, who wrought it in 
Arcos stone in 1546-50, having been a Moor. 
The very ancient manufactory of arms for which 
Toledo has a world-wide fame dates from the time 





■* J 




THE MOORS IN SPAIN 375 

of the Goths ; into this the Moors introduced their 
Damascene system of ornamenting and tempering, 
and as early as 852 this identical "fabrica" was at 
work under Abd er-Rahman ibn El Hakim. The 
Moors treasured and named their swords like 
children. These were the weapons which Othello, 
the Moor, "kept in his chamber." 

At Alcazar de San Juan, in La Mancha, I found 
a few remnants of the Moorish town, as in the 
church tower, but the name is now almost the only 
Moorish thing about it. Hence we pass to Alarcon, 
a truly Moorish city, built like a miniature Toledo, 
on a craggy peninsula hemmed in by the river 
Jucar. The land approach is still guarded by 
Moorish towers and citadel. 

In Zocodovar — which takes its name from the 
word sok, "market-place" — we find a very Moorish 
"plaza," with its irregular windows and balconies, 
and in San Eugenio are some remains of an old 
mosque with Kufic inscriptions, as well as an 
arch and tomb of elaborate design. In the Calle 
de las Tornarias there used to be a dilapidated 
Moorish house with one still handsome room, but 
it is doubtful whether this now survives the wreck 
of time. It was called El Taller del Moro, because 
Ambron, the Moorish governor of Huesca, is said 
to have invited four hundred of the refractory chiefs 
of Toledo to dine here, and to have cut off the head 
of each as he arrived. There is a curious mosque 
in the Calle del Cristo de la Luz, the roof is sup- 
ported by four low square pillars, each having a 
different capital, from which spring double arches 
like those at Cordova. The ceiling is divided into 
nine compartments with domes. 



376 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Madrid has passed through such various fortunes, 
and has been so much re-built, that it now con- 
tains few traces of the Moors. The only relic 
which I saw in 1890 was a large piece of tabia, 
forming a substantial wall near to the new cathedral, 
which might have belonged to the city wall or only 
to a fortress. The Museum of the Capital contains a 
good collection of Moorish coins. In the Armoury 
are Moorish guns, swords, saddles, and leather 
shields, the last named made of two hides cemented 
with a mortar composed of herbs and camel-hair. 

In Old Castile the footprints grow rare and 
faint, although the name of Valladolid — Blad Walid, 
"Town of Walid," a Moorish ameer — sufficiently 
proclaims its origin, but I am not aware of any 
Moorish remains there. In Burgos one old gate 
near the triumphal arch, erected by Philip II., still 
retains its Moorish opening, and on the opposite 
hill stands the castle in which was celebrated the 
bridal of our Edward I. with Eleanor of Castile. 
It was then a true Moorish kasar, but part has 
since been destroyed by fire. On the road from 
Burgos to Vittoria we pass between the mountains 
of Oca and the Pyrenean spurs, in which narrow 
defile the old Spaniards defied the advancing Moors. 
Moorish caverns or cisterns are still to be seen. 

Turning southward again, we come to Medi- 
naceli, or "the city of Selim," once the strong 
frontier hold of a Moor of that name, the scene 
of many conflicts among the Moors themselves, 
and against the Christians. Here, on August 7, 
1002, died the celebrated El Manslir — "The 
Victorious "—the "Cid" (Seyyid) of the Moors, 
and the most terrible enemy of the Christians. 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 377 

He was born in 938 near Algeciras, and by a 
series of intrigues, treacheries and murders, rose 
in importance till he became in reality master of 
the puppet ameer. He proclaimed a holy crusade 
against the Christians each year, and was buried 
in the dust of fifty campaigns, for after every battle 
he used to shake off the soil from his garments into 
a chest which he carried about with him for that 
purpose. 

In Aragon the situation of Daroca, in the fertile 
basin of the Jiloca, is very picturesque. The little 
town lies in a hill-girt valley around which rise 
eminences defended by Moorish walls and towers, 
which, following the irregular declivities, command 
charming views from above. The palace of the 
Mendozas at Guadalajara, in the same district, boasts 
of an elegant row of Moorish windows, though these 
appear to have been constructed after Guadalajara 
was reconquered from the Moors by the Spaniards. 
Near this place is a Moorish brick building, turned 
into a battery by the invaders, and afterwards used 
as a prison. Before leaving this town it will be 
worth while to visit San Miguel, once a mosque, with 
its colonnaded entrance, horse-shoe arches, machiola- 
tions, and herring-bone patterns under the roof. 

Calatayud, the second town of Aragon, is of 
Moorish origin. Its Moorish name means the 
" Castle of Aytib — or Job — the nephew of Mtasa, 
who used the ancient Bilbilis as a quarry whence 
to obtain stones for its construction. The Domini- 
can convent of Calatayud has a glorious patio with 
three galleries rising one above another, and a 
portion of the exterior is enriched with pseudo- 
Moorish work like the prisons at Guadalajara. 



378 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

Saragossa gave me more the impression of 
Moorish origin than any town I saw in Spain, 
except Seville and Cordova. The streets of the 
original settlement are just those of Mequinez on 
a small scale. The only object of genuinely Moorish 
origin that I could find, however, was the Aljaferia, 
once a palace-citadel, now a barrack, so named 
after Jafer, a Muslim king of this province. Since 
his times Ferdinand and Isabella used it, and then 
handed it over to the Inquisition. Some of the 
rooms still retain Moorish decorations, but most 
of the latter are of the period of their conquerors. 
On one ceiling is pointed out the first gold brought 
from the New World. The only genuine Moorish 
remnant is the private mosque, with beautiful in- 
scriptions. The building has been incorporated in 
a huge fort-like modern brick structure, which 
would lead no one to seek inside for Arab traces. 

Passing from Saragossa northwards, we arrive 
at Jaca, the railway terminus, which to this day 
quarters on her shield the heads of four sheikhs 
who were left behind when their fellow-country- 
men fled from the city in 795, after a desperate 
battle in which the Spanish women fought like 
men. The site of the battle, called Las Tiendas, 
is still visited on the first Friday in May, when 
the daughters of these Amazons go gloriously 
" a-shopping." The municipal charter of Jaca dates 
from the Moorish expulsion, and is reckoned among 
the earliest in Spain. 

Gerona, almost within sight of France, played 
an important part, too, in those days, siding alter- 
nately with that country and with Spain when in the 
possession of the Moors. The Ameer Sulaimdn, 



THE MOORS IN SPAIN 379 

in 759 A.D., entered into an alliance with Pepin, and 
in 785 Charlemagne took the town, which the 
Moors re-captured ten years later. It became their 
headquarters for raids upon Narbonne and Nismes. 
Castellon de Ampurias, once on the coast, which 
has receded, was strong enough to resist the 
Moors for a time, but after they had dismantled 
it, the Normans appeared and finally destroyed it. 
Now it is but a hamlet. 

We are now in the extreme north-west of the 
Peninsula, where the relics we seek grow scanty, 
and, in consequence, of more importance. Instead 
of buildings in stone or concrete, we find here a 
monument of independence, perhaps more interest- 
ing in its way than any other. When the Pyrenees 
and their hardy mountaineers checked the onward 
rush of Isldm, several independent states arose, 
recognized by both France and Spain on account 
of their bravery in opposing a common foe. The 
only one of these retaining a semi-independence is 
the republic of Andorra, a name corrupted from the 
Arabic el (al) darra, "a plenteous rainfall," showing 
how the Moors appreciated this feature of so well 
wooded and hilly a district after the arid plains of 
the south. The old Moorish castle of the chief 
town bears the name of Carol, derived from that 
of Charlemagne, who granted it the privileges 
it still enjoys, so that it is a memento of the 
meeting of Arab and Teuton. At Planes is a 
church said to be of Moorish origin, and earlier 
than Charlemagne ; it certainly dates from no later 
than the tenth century. These ** foot-prints " show 
that the Moor got a fairly good footing here, before 
he was driven back, and his progress stayed. 



APPENDIX 



"MOROCCO NEWS" 

" A lie is not worth the lying, nor is truth worth repeating." 

Moorish Proverb. 

So unanimous have been the uninformed reitera- 
tions of the Press in contravention of much that has 
been stated in the foregoing pages, that it will not 
be out of place to quote a few extracts from men on 
the spot who do know the facts. The first three 
are from leaders in Al-moghreb Al-aksa, the present 
English paper in Morocco, which accurately voices 
the opinion of the British Colony in that country, 
opinions shared by most disinterested residents of 
other nationalities. 

" However we look upon the situation as it 
stands to-day, and wherever our sympathies may 
lie, it is impossible to over-estimate the danger 
attending the unfortunate Anglo-French Agreement. 
We have always — as our readers will acknowledge 
— advocated the simple doctrine of the status quo, 
and in this have received the support of every dis- 
interested person in and out of Morocco. Our 
policy has at times thrown us into antagonism with 
the exponents of the French colonial schemes ; but 
we at least have the satisfaction of knowing that, 
however we may have fallen short of our duty, it 

38X 



382 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

has been one which we have persevered In, prompted 
by earnest conviction, by love of the country and 
its people, and by admiration for its Sultan. The 
simplicity of our aim has helped us In our uphill 
fight, and will, no doubt, continue to do so In the 
future. 

" Needless to say we look forward with no little 
anxiety to the result of the conference. This needs 
no explanation. In the discussion of such a ques- 
tion It Is absolutely Imperative that the individual 
members of the conference should be selected from 
those who know their Morocco, and who are 
acquainted with the causes which led up to the 
present dead-lock. Only the keenest, shrewdest 
men should be selected, for it must be borne in 
mind that France will spare no pains to uphold the 
recent Anglo-French Convention. Her most astute 
diplomats will figure largely, for her dignity is at 
stake. Indeed, her very position, diplomatic and 
political. Is in effect challenged. Taking this into 
consideration. It is more than necessary to see that 
the representatives of Great Britain are not chosen 
for their family influence or for the perfection they 
may have attained in the French language. 

"The task is hard and perilous. England is 
waking to the fact that she has blundered, and, 
as usual, she is unwilling to admit the fact. Cir- 
cumstances, however, will sooner or later force 
her to modify her terms. Germany, Spain, the 
United States, and other nations, to say nothing 
of Morocco, must point out the absurdity of the 
situation. If the agreement is inoperative with 
regard to Morocco, it may as well be openly ad- 
mitted to be useless. This is not all. Should 
English statesmanship direct that this injudicious 
arrangement be adhered to, France and Great 
Britain will stand as self-confessed violators of the 
Convention of Madrid. 



"MOROCCO NEWS" 383 

" Fortunately the Moorish cause has some ex- 
cellent champions. For many years she has been 
dumb. Now, however, that she is assailed, we find 
a small but influential band of writers coming forward 
with their pens to do battle for her. 

" This is the great consolation we have. Moorish 
interests will no longer be the sport of European 
political expediency. These men will, no doubt, pro- 
test against the land-grabbing propensities of the 
French colonial party, and they may find time to 
point out that after a thousand years of not ignoble 
independence, the Moorish race deserves a little 
more consideration than has hitherto been granted. 

'* Even those people who are responsible for this 
deplorable state of affairs must now stand more or 
less amazed at their handiwork. No diplomatic 
subterfuge can efface the humiliation that underlies 
the situation ; and no one can possibly exaggerate 
the danger that lies ahead of us." 

* * * * 

'* Two centuries ago Great Britain abandoned 
Tangier, and it is only the present generation that 
has realized the huge mistake. A maudlin senti- 
mentalism, to avoid displeasing the French King, 
prevented us from handing the city back to Por- 
tugal ; an act which would have been wise, either 
strategically, commercially, or with a view to the 
suppression of the famous Salee rovers, who were 
for long a scourge to ships entering the Straits. A 
Commission of experts was appointed to consider 
the question of the abandonment, one of them being 
Mr. Pepys. . . . 

" Whatever the opinion may have been of the 
experts consulted by the Government on the present 
agreement with France, we are strongly disposed 
to believe that if they have been endowed with 
greater sense than those of 1683, there is probably 
more, as we must hope there is, in favour of British 



384 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

interests, than appears to the public eye. Time 
alone will tell what reservation, mental or otherwise, 
may be locked up in the British Foreign Office. 
It is difficult to believe that any British statesman 
would wantonly give away any national interest, 
but too lofty a policy has often been wanting in 
practical sense which, had that policy descended 
from principles to facts, would have saved the 
nation thousands of lives, millions of money, and 
sacrifices of its best interests." 

* * * * 

"The events that have been fully before the 
eyes of British subjects in Morocco in the abnormal 
condition of the country during the past two years, 
seem to have been ignored by our Foreign Office. 
In short, it fully appears that our Foreign Office 
policy has been designed to lead the Sultan to 
political destruction, and to sacrifice every British 
interest. 

" About two years ago our Foreign Office began 
well in starting the Sultan on the path of progress : 
in carrying out its aims it has done nothing but 
blunders. Had it but acted with a little firmness, 
the opening up of this country would have already 
begun, and there would have been no ' Declaration ' 
which will assuredly give future Foreign Secretaries 
matter for some anxiety. The declaration is only a 
display of political fireworks that will dazzle the 
eyes of the British public for a while, delighting 
our Little Englanders, but only making the future 
hazy and possibly more dangerous to deal with. It 
seems only a way of putting off the real settlement, 
which may not wait for thirty years to be dealt 
with, on the points still at issue, and for which a 
splendid opportunity has been thrown away at 
Downing Street, and could have been availed of to 
maintain British interests, prestige, and influence in 
this country. Briefly, we fear that the attainment 



"MOROCCO NEWS" 385 

of the end in view may yet cost millions to the 
British nation. 

" That Morocco will progress under French 
guidance there can be no question, and France may 
be congratulated on her superior diplomacy and the 
working of her Foreign Office system." 

With regard to the Moorish position, a con- 
tributor observes in a later issue — 

"The attitude of the Sultan and his Cabinet 
may be summed up in a few words. * You nations 
have made your agreements about our country with- 
out consulting us. We owe you nothing that we 
are unable to pay on the conditions arranged 
between us. We did not ask your subjects to 
reside and trade on Moorish soil. In fact, we have 
invariably discouraged their so doing. Troubles 
exist in Morocco, it is true, but we are far greater 
sufferers than you — our unbidden guests. And 
but for the wholesale smuggling of repeating rifles 
by your people, our tribes would not be able to 
cause the disorders of which you complain. As 
to your intention to intervene in our affairs, we 
agree to no interference. If you are resolved to 
try force, we believe that the Faith of the Prophet 
will conquer. We still believe there is a God 
stronger than man. And should the fight go 
against us, we believe that it is better to earn Para- 
dise in a holy war for the defence of our soil, than 
to submit tamely to Christian rule.' 

" The position, however lamentable, is intelli- 
gible ; but on the other hand it is incredible that 
France — her mind made up long ago that she is to 
inherit the Promised Land of Sunset — will sit down 
meekly and allow herself to be flouted by the 
monarch and people of a crumbling power like 
Morocco. And this is what she has to face. Not 

2 c 



386 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

indeed a nation, as we understand the term, but a 
gathering of units dififering widely in character and 
race — Arabs, Berbers, mulattoes, and negroes — 
unable to agree together on any subject under the 
sun but one, and that one the defence of Islam 
from foreign intervention. Under the standard of 
the invincible Prophet they will join shoulder to 
shoulder. And hopeless and pathetic as it may 
seem, they will defy the disciplined ranks and 
magazine guns of Europe. Thus, wherever our 
sympathies may lie, the possibilities of a peaceful 
settlement of the Morocco question appear to be 
dwindling day by day. The anarchy paramount in 
three-quarters of the sultanate is not only an ever- 
increasing peril to European lives and property, 
but a direct encouragement to intervention. Of 
one thing we in Morocco have no kind of doubt. 
The landing of foreign troops, even for protective 
service, in any one part of the coast would infallibly 
be the signal for a general rising in every part 
of the Empire. No sea-port would be safe for 
foreigners or for friendly natives until protected by 
a strong European force. And, once begun, the 
task of ' pacifying ' the interior must entail an 
expenditure of lives and treasure which will amply 
satisfy French demands for colonial extension for 
many a year to come." 

One more quotation from an editorial— 

" And so it would appear, that, with the smiling 
approval of the world's Press, the wolf is to take 
over the affairs of the lamb. We use the phrase 
advisedly. We have never hesitated to criticize the 
action, and to condemn the errors, of the Makhzen 
where such a course has been needful in the public 
interest. We can, therefore, with all the more 
justice, call attention to the real issues of the compact 



"MOROCCO NEWS" 387 

embodied in the Morocco clauses of the Anglo- 
French Agreement of April, 1904. How long1;he 
leadmg journals of England may continue to ignore 
the facts of the case it is impossible to say ; but 
that there will come a startling awakening seems 
inevitable. Every merely casual observer on this 
side of the Mediterranean knows only too well 
that the most trifling pretext may be at any hour 
seized for the next move in the development of 
French intervention. Evidence is piling up to show 
that the forward party in France, and still more in 
Algeria, is burning to strike while yet the frantic 
enthusiasm of the Entente lasts, and while they can 
rely upon the support— we had almost written, the 
moral support— of Great Britain. Can we shut our 
eyes to the deliberate provocations they are giving 
the Makhzen in almost every part of the sultanate ? 

" These things are not reported to Europe^ 
naturally. In spite of all our comfortable cant about 
justice to less powerful races, who in England cares 
about justice to Morocco and her Sultan ? We owe 
it to Germany that the thing was not rushed 
through a few months ago. Who has heard, who 
wants to hear, the Moorish side of the question ? 
Morocco is mute. The Sultan pulls no journalistic 
wires. He has no advocate in the Press, or in 
Parliament, or in Society. Hardly a public man 
opens his mouth in England to refer to Morocco, 
without talking absolute twaddle. The only member 
of either House of Parliament who has shown a real 
grasp of the tremendous issues of the question is 
Lord Rosebery, in the memorable words 

"'No more one-sided agreement was ever con- 
cluded between two Powers at peace with each 
other. I hope and trust, but I hope and trust 
rather than believe, that the Power which holds 
Gibraltar may never have cause to regret having 
handed Morocco over to a great military Power.' 



388 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

" Had that true statesman, and true Englishman, 
been in power eighteen months ago, England would 
never have been pledged to sacrifice her commercial 
interests in Morocco, to abandon her wholesome, 
traditional policy in the Mediterranean, and to 
revoke her solemn engagement to uphold the in- 
tegrity of the Sultan's dominions." 

An excellent idea of the discrepancies between 
the alarmist reports with which the Press is from 
time to time deluged, and the facts as known on 
the spot, is afforded by the following extracts from 
Al-moghreb Al-aksa of January 7, 1905, when the 
London papers had been almost daily victimized by 
their correspondents regarding Morocco : — 

" The ^dismissal of the military attaches at the 
Moorish Court threatened to raise a terrible con- 
flagration in Europe, and great indignation among 
foreign residents in this country — according to 
certain Press reports. This fiery disposition of 
some offered a remarkable contrast with the cool- 
ness of the others. For instance, the British took 
almost no interest in the matter, for the simple 
reason that there has never been any British ofEcial 
military mission in the Moorish Court. It is true 
there are a few British subjects in Moorish military 
service, but they are privately employed by the 
Sultan's Government, and their service is simply 
voluntary. Even personally, they actually show no 
great concern in remaining here or not. 

** The Italian military mission is composed of 
very few persons. The chief, Col. Ferrara, is on 
leave in Italy, and the Mission is now represented 
by Captain Campini, who lives at Fez with his 
family. They report having received all kind atten- 
tions from the Sultan quite recently, and that they 



"MOROCCO NEWS" 389 

know nothing about the dismissal which has so 
noisily sounded in Europe. According to the same 
Press reports, great fears were entertained of a 
general rising against the foreign residents in Fez 
and other places in the interior, and while it is 
reported that the military attaches, consular officers 
and residents of all nations were notified to leave 
Fez and come to Tangier or the coast ports as a 
matter of precaution, we find that nobody moves 
from the Court, because, they say, they have seen 
nothing to induce them to leave that residence. 
And what has Mulai Abd El Aziz replied to French 
complaints and demands respecting the now historical 
dismissal of the military attachh f A very simple 
thing — that H.S.M. did not think that the dis- 
missal could resent any of the civilized nations, 
because it was decided as an economic measure, 
there being no money to pay even other more 
pressing liabilities. However, the Sultan, wishing 
to be on friendly terms with France and all other 
nations, immediately withdrew the dismissal and 
promised to pay the attachh as long as it is possible 
to do so. The missions, consuls, etc., have now no 
need to leave Fez, and everything remains stationary 
as before. The only thing steadily progressing is 
the insecurity of life and property in the outskirts 
and district of Tangier, where murders and robberies 
proceed unabated, and this state of affairs has caused 
the British and German residents in this town to 
send petitions to their respective Governments, 
through their legations, soliciting that some measure 
may be adopted to do away with the present state 
of insecurity which has already paralysed all over- 
land traffic between this city and the neighbouring 
towns. 

" The contrasts of the situation are as remarkable 
as they are comic, and while the whole country is 
perfectly quiet, those places more in contact with 



390 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

the civilized world, like Tangier and the Algerian 
frontier, are the only spots which are seriously 
troubled with disturbances." 

So much for northern Morocco. The same 
issue contains the following report from its Mogador 
correspondent regarding the "disturbed state" of 
southern Morocco. 

" It would puzzle even the trained imagination of 
certain journalists we wot of to evolve anything 
alarmist out of the condition of the great tribes 
between Mogador and the Atlas. During the 
recent tribal differences not one single highway 
robbery, even of a native, was, I believe, committed. 
The roads are open everywhere ; the rival chieftains 
have, figuratively, exchanged the kiss of peace, and 
the tribes have confessed that it was a mistake to 
leave their farms and farm-work simply to please an 
ambitious and utterly thankless governor. 

" As for Europeans, they have been rambling 
all over the country with their wonted freedom 
from interference. A Frenchman, travelling almost 
alone, has just returned from Imintanoot. Another 
has twice crossed the Atlas. Needless to say the 
route to Marrdkesh is almost as devoid of other 
than pleasurable novelty as a stroll on the Embank- 
ment or down the shady side of Pall Mall. When, 
indeed, will folks at home grasp the fact that the 
Berber clans of southern Morocco belong to a race 
differing utterly in character and largely in customs 
from the ruffians infesting the northern half of the 
sultanate ? 

" ' Nothing but the unpleasant prospect of being 
held up by brigands,' writes a friend, * prevents me 
from revisiting your beautiful country.' How con- 
vince such people that brigandage is an art unknown 
south of the Oom Rabya ? That the prayer of the 



"MOROCCO NEWS" 391 

Shluh, when a Nazarene visits their land, is that 
nothing may happen to bring trouble on the clan ? 
They may inwardly hate the Rumi, or they may 
regard him merely as an uncouth blot on the 
scenery ; but should actual unpleasantness arise, 
he will, in almost every case, have himself to thank 
for it. (London papers please copy!)" 

This letter was dated two days after the Paris 
correspondent of the Times had telegraphed — 

" Events would seem likely to be coming to a 
head in consequence of the anarchy prevailing in 
the Shereefian Empire. The Pretender is just now 
concentrating his troops in the plain of Angad, and 
is preparing to take an energetic offensive against 
Ujda. The camp of the Pretender is imposing in 
its warlike display. All the caids and the sons of 
Bu Amema surround Mulai Mahomed. The men 
are armed with French chassepots, and are well 
dressed in new uniforms supplied by an Oran firm. 
All the war material was embarked on board the 
French yacht Zut^ which landed it last month on 
the shores of Rastenga between Cape Eau and 
Melilla under the direction of the Pretender's 
troops." 

Towards Christmas, 1902, circumstantial reports 
began to appear in the newspapers of an overwhelm- 
ing defeat of the imperial army by rebels who were 
marching on Fez, who had besieged it, and had cut 
off the aqueduct bringing its water, the Sultan re- 
treating to the palace, Europeans being ordered to 
the coast, etc., etc. These statements I promptly 
and categorically denied in an interview for the 
London Echo ; there was no real ** pretender," only 
a religious fanatic supported by two disaffected 



392 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

tribes, the imperial army had not been defeated, as 
only a small body had been despatched to quell the 
disturbance; the " rebels " were not besieging Fez, as 
they had no army, and only the guns captured by 
the clever midnight surprise of sleeping troops, of 
which the " battle " — really a panic — consisted ; they 
had not cut the "aqueduct," as Fez is built on the 
banks of a river from which it drinks ; the Sultan's 
palace was his normal abode ; the Europeans had 
not fled, seeing no danger, but that on account of the 
alarming telegrams from Europe, their Ministers in 
Tangier had advised them to withdraw, much 
against their will. 

So sweeping a contradiction of statements re- 
ceiving daily confirmation from Tangier, heightened 
colour from Oran, and intensification from Madrid, 
must have been regarded as the ravings of a mad- 
man, for the interview was held over for a week for 
confirmation. Had not thirty-four correspondents 
descended on Tangier alone, each with expenses to 
meet ? Something had to be said, though the 
correspondent nearest to the scene, in Fez, was two 
days' journey from it, and six from Tangier, the 
nearest telegraph station. It is true that some 
years ago an American boldly did the journey 
" From Fez to Fleet Street in Eight Days," by for- 
getting most of the journey to Tangier, but this was 
quite out-done now. Meanwhile every rumour was 
remodelled in Oran or Madrid, and served up afresh 
with confirmatory sauce piquante, d la frangaise or 
d I'espagnol, as the case might be. It was not till 
Renter had obtained an independent, common-sense 
report, that the interview was published, my state- 
ments having been all confirmed, but by that time 



"MOROCCO NEWS" 393 

interest had flagged, and the British public still 
believes that a tremendous upheaval took place in 
Morocco just then. 

Yet, notwithstanding the detailed accounts of 
battles and reverses — a collation of which shows 
the " Father of the She-ass " fighting in several 
places at once, captured or slain to-day and fighting 
to-morrow, and so on — the Government of Morocco 
was never in real danger from the " Rogi's " rising, 
and the ultimate issue was never in doubt. The 
late Sultan, El Hasan, more than once suffered in 
person at the hands of the same tribes, defeats more 
serious than those experienced by the inadequate 
forces sent by his son. 

The moral of all this is that any news from 
Morocco, save that concerning Europeans or events 
on the coast, must be received with caution, and 
confirmation awaited. The most reliable accounts 
at present available are those of the Times corre- 
spondent at Tangier, while the Manchester Guardian 
is well informed from Mogadon Whatever emanates 
from Paris or Algeria, not referring directly to fron- 
tier events ; or from Madrid, not referring to events 
near the Spanish "presidios," should be refused 
altogether, as at best it is second-hand, more often 
fabricated. How the London Press can seriously 
publish telegrams about Morocco from New York 
and Washington passes comprehension. The low 
ebb reached by American journals with one or two 
notable exceptions in their competitive sensa- 
tionalism would of itself suffice to discredit much 
that appears, even were the countries in touch with 
each other. 

The fact is that very few men in Morocco itself 



394 LIFE IN MOROCCO 

are in a position to form adequate judgements on 
current affairs, or even to collect reliable news from 
all parts. So few have direct relations with the 
authorities, native and foreign ; so many can only 
rely on and amplify rumour or information from 
interested sources. So many, too, of the latter must 
make money somehow ! The soundest judgements 
are to be formed by those who, being well-informed 
as to the conditions and persons concerned, and 
Moorish affairs in general, are best acquainted with 
the origin of the reports collected by others, and 
can therefore rightly appraise them. 



INDEX 



Abbas, Shah of Persia, 280 note 

Abd Allah bin Boo Shaib es- 
Sdlih, story of: protection sys- 
tem, 247-251 

Abd Allah GhaiMn, former rebel 
leader, 274 

Abd el Hakk and the Widow 
Zdidah, story of the, 164, 165 

Addington, Mr., British Ambas- 
sador at Granada, 354 

Aghmdt, capital of Southern 
Morocco, 5 

Ahmad II., "the Golden," ad- 
dressed by Queen Elizabeth, 9 

Algeria, 281 ; the French in, 294- 
296, 299 ; viewed from Morocco, 
307-317 ; under French rule, 
308-315 ; failure as a colony, 
309 ; Arabs in, 313 ; Moors in, 
314 ; mosques, 315 ; tile work, 
316 ; field for scientist, 317 

Algiers (El Jazirah), the city and 
people, 310-316 

Alhambra, the, at Grandda {q.-v.) 

Al-mogh7'eb Al-aksa on the politi- 
cal situation, 381-394 

Andorra, the Pyrenean republic 
of, 7, 337, 379 ; its privileges 
granted by Charlemagne, 379 

Anglo-French Agreement, 276, 
279, 301, 304, 381 ; clauses in, 
283, 293 

Anne, Queen, 9 



Arabs, the wandering, 57-62 ; tent- 
life, 57-62 ; food, 59 ; hospi- 
tality, 60; in Algeria, 313; in 
Tunisia, 322 



B 



Beggars, native, 115, 116 
Berber race, 3, 6, 47-56 ; pirates, 
3 ; men brave and warlike, 48, 
49 ; Reefian, 48, 50 ; women 
often very intelligent, 5 1 ; they, 
not Saracens or Arabs, real 
conquerors ot Spain, 6, 54 ; 
origin still a problem, 55 ; 
Ghaidtk Berbers in revolt, 271- 

273 
Bobadil, 356, 365 
Boo Ziaro Mili^ni, arrest and 

release of, 34 



Cafd, Moorish, 159-165 
Carthage, 53 ; Christian and 

Mohammedan, 53 
Charlemagne, 378, 379 
Charles Martel, the " Hammer," 

337 
Charles V. , " improver " of Spanish 
monuments of Moorish art, 338, 

350, 353 
Chess, 133, 144; an Arab game, 

134 



395 



396 



INDEX 



Child-life, Moorish, 94-101 ; in- 
fancy, 95 ; school days, 97 ; 
youth, 99 ; early vices, loi 
"Cid," the, El Mansur, 376 
City life in Morocco, 63-70 
Civil war in Morocco : Asni and 

the Ait Miz^n, 261-266 
Coinage, Moorish, 23-25, 125 
C6rdova, 337, 338-346, 375 5 its 
famous mosque (cathedral), 338- 
345 ; aisles, columns, arches, 
339, 340 ; the kiblah niche, 
342 ; Moorish worshippers in, 
342 : European additions to, 
343-345 ; history of the town, 

345 
Corrosive sublimate tea — for dis- 
graced officials, 28 



D 



Debts in Morocco, how settled 

30-34 
Delbrel, M.,leader of the " Rogi's " 

forces, 273 
Dining out in Morocco, 102-106 
Diplomacy in Morocco. See 

Embassy 
Draughts, game of, 162 



Edward I. and Eleanor of Castile, 

376 

Edward VI I. in Algeria, 281 

Elizabeth, Queen, 9 

El K'sar es-Sagheer, 6 

El Menebhi, ambassador to 
London and Minister of War, 
268 

El Moghreb el Aksa, native name 
of Morocco, 14 

El Yazeed, Sultan in 1790, de- 
clares war on all Christendom, 
10 



Embassy to court of Sultan, a 
typical, 206-232 ; requisitioning 
provisions, 206, 207 ; personnel 
and attaches, 208, 209 ; native 
agent, 209 ; arrival at Marr^- 
kesh, 210 ; reception, 212, 213 ; 
the diplomatic interview : 
ambassador, interpreter, and 
Sultan, 214-222 ; the result : 
as it appeared in the Press, 
223 ; as it was in reality, 224, 
225 ; diamond cut diamond, 
226-230 ; failure, and its causes, 
227-230 

England and Morocco, 276, 293, 
294, 381-394 \ British trade, 
280 ; British policy in, 301- 
304 ; Anglo-French Agreement 
($'.7/.); "Morocco news," 381- 
394 



Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, 

3, 334, 350, 353, 37o, 378; 
their nuptials the death-knell 
of Moorish rule in Europe, 7 ; 
tomb of, 355 
Fez, founded by son of Mulai 
I drees, 5 ; Karueein mosque 

at, 44, 337, 339, 358 
Football, Moorish, 97, 137 
Ford's " Handbook to Spain," 

357, 366, 373 
France in Morocco, 288, 292- 
305 ; " policing " the frontier, 
288 ; her rule inevitable and de- 
sirable, 294-300 ; hope for the 
Moors, 301, 305, 385 ; Anglo- 
French Agreement (^.-z/.); in 
Algeria, 308-315 ; in Tunisia, 
318-320 ; see Political situation, 
the, and Appendix, 381-394 



INDEX 



397 



German interests in Morocco, 
279-283 

Gerona : Sulaiman, Pepin, and 
Charlemagne, 378, 379 

Gibraltar, Moorish castle, 370 

Granada, 337, 352-365 ; the Al- 
hambra Palace, loveliest monu- 
ment of Moorish art in Spain, 
352-354,356-362 ; despoiled by 
Charles V, and the French, 

353 ; "Tia Antonia," 353, 354 5 
Morocco-like surroundings, 

354 ; mosques, 355 ; tomb of 
Ferdinand and Isabella, 355 ; 
remains of Cardinal Mendoza, 
356, 377 ; Bu Abd Allah's 
sword, 356, 365 ; courts and 
halls of the Alhambra, 358- 
362; other Moorish remains, 
362-365 

H 

Hamed Zirari, story of: protec- 
tion system, 242-246 
Hareems, royal, 73-75 ; and other, 

82-87 
Hasheesh, opium of Morocco, 130 
Hay, Sir John Drummond, 294 
Herbs, fragrant, use of, 86, 108, 
122 

I 

Infant mortality in Morocco high, 

96 

Irving, Washington, at Granada, 
354 ; his "Tia Antonia," 354 

Ismail the Bloodthirsty ex- 
changes compliments with 
Queen Anne, 9 

J 

Jaca, site of desperate battle be- 
tween Spaniards and Moors, 
378 



JelaUi Zarhoni, the " Rogi," head 

of the revolt of the Ghaidtk 

Berbers, 271-273 
Jewish interpreter, astute, 214-222 
Jews in Morocco, 16-17 ; justice 

for, 252-260; in Spain, traces 

of, 334 



K 



Kabyles, 54 

Kaid, the, and his court, 252-259 

Kesk'soo, the national dish, 59, 

105, 121, 198, 266 
Khaha, staple article of winter 

diet, 197 
Koran, the, at schools, 97 ; the 

standard work at colleges, 98 
Kufic inscriptions, 351, 361, 368, 

373, 575 



UAigle at Mogador and Agadir, 

35 
" Land of the Moors, The," 292 

Lex talionis, 48 



M 

Machiavellian arts, Moors excel 
in, 38 

Madrid Convention of 1880. ..282, 
382 ; essential features of, 289, 
290 

Madrid, Moorish remains in, 376 

Malaga, Moorish dockyard, 370 

Market-place, Moorish, 107-110, 
121-123, 125-132 ; and market- 
ing, 109, 113-115, 118-124 

Marrdkesh, founded in the middle 
of the nth century, 5 ; kingdom 
of, 5, 14; the Kutubiya at, 44, 
337, 346 

Marriage in Morocco, 75, 11 '^ 



398 



INDEX 



country wedding, 88-93 ; feast- 

ings, presents, and rejoicings, 

88-91 
Mauretania Tingitana, titular 

North African bishopric still, 3 
Mavrogordato, Kyrios Dimitri : 

typical embassy, 206-232 
Medicine-men, 166-178 ; cupping, 

167-169, 197 ; exorcising, i6g, 

171 ; cauterizing, 170 ; charms, 

172 ; curious remedies, 174-177 ; 
philtres and poisons, 177 

Mekka, pilgrimage to. See Pil- 
grimage 

Mendoza, Cardinal, 355, 356; 
remains of the Mendozas, 377 

Merchants, Moorish, 109, 113-115 

Mdrida, MusHm toleration at, 

373 

Mokhtar and Zdharah, wedding 
of, 88-93 

Monk, General, 9 

Moors in Spain, traces of. See 
Spain 

Morals, Moorish, lax, 39-44, loi 

Morocco : retrospect, 1-13 ; of pre- 
sent day, 14-65 ; races : Berbers, 
Arabs, Moors, 15-17, 47-62 ; 
life of the people — society, busi- 
ness, pastime, religion, 63-204 ; 
diplomacy(^.?/.) ; law and j ustice, 
233-260 ; the political situation 
(^.■z/.); her neighbours, 307-331 ; 
Moors in Spain (ff-v.); "Morocco 
news," Al-7)ioghreb Al-aksa, 

381-394 
Morocco -Algerian frontier, 

France " policing " the, 288 
Mosques, French treatment of, 

315,319 
Mulai Abd Allah V., 1756, makes 

war upon Gibraltar, 1 1 
Mulai Abd el Aziz IV., present 

Sultan, 267-291 
Mulai Abd el Kdder, a favourite 

saint, 115 



Mulai el Hasan III., late Sultan, 
24, 40, 267 

Mulai I drees, direct descendant 
of Mohammed, and early Ara- 
bian missionary to Morocco, 4 ; 
founded the Shurfk Idreeseein 
dynasty, 5 

Mulai Yakub el Mans(\r, builder 
of mosque towers at Seville, 
Marrdkesh, and Rabat, 347 

Musical instruments, 135, 139, 
151, 160 



O 



Official rapacity, 28, 242-251, 252- 

260 
Orihuela, palms at, 371 



Pawkers, Admiral, 1 1 

Pepys, Samuel, once on a Moorish 
Commission, 383 

Pilgrims to Mekka, 191-204 ; sea- 
route preferred to-day, 191 ; 
camp at Tangier, 192-200 ; 
comforts and discomforts, 192- 
200; a novel tent, 193-195 5 
food, 197-199 ; returning home, 
201-204 

Piracy of Moors, 7-9 ; tribute ex- 
torted^from European Powers, 9, 
10, 12 ; abandoned by Algiers, 
12; not wholly unknown to- 
day, 13 

Pohtical situation, the, 267-291 ; 
the Sultan and reforms, 268- 
270 ; unsettled state of the 
empire, 270-275 ; a change wel- 
come, 276 ; agreement among 
the three great Powers remote, 
276 ; Anglo-French Agreement 
{q.v.) ; famine and unrest, 277 ; 
German interests, 280 ; Spanish 



INDEX 



399 



interests, 283 ; conference pro- 
posed, 282, 284 ; points for 
discussion, 285-288 ; " Morocco 
news" must be received with 
caution, 381-394 
Postal reform needed, 286 
Powder play, 91, 94, 121, 135 
Prayer, Moslem, 69, 142, 152 ; call 

to, 69, 70 
Prisons and prisoners, miserable, 
233-241 ; long terms, 234-237 ; 
the lash, 238, 246 ; the basti- 
nado, 255 ; Jews in, 260 
Protection system, the, 29, 242- 
251 ; the need: story of Hamed 
Zirdri, 242-246 ; the search : 
story of Abd Allah bin Boo 
Shaib es-Sd,hh, 247-25 1 ; patent 
of, 251 ; "farming," 251 nofe 

R 

Rabat, Hassan tower at, 347, 348 
Railways would be welcomed by 

the Sultan, 297 
Raisuli, rebel leader in the dis- 
affected north, 273-275 
Rio Tinto copper-mines, 368 
Ronda, corn-mills at, 369 
Rosebery, Lord, on Morocco, 387 
Rudolf II., 1604 : his active poHcy 
respecting Moroccan affairs, 
280 note 



Saragossa, the Aljaferia at, 378 

School, Moorish, 97, 98 

Seville, 337, 346-352, 367 ; Giralda 
tower, 346-348 ; palace. El 
Kasar, 349-351; royal "im- 
provers" of Moorish work, 350 ; 
capital of Charles V., 352 ; 
Moorish remains at, 367 

Sherley, Sir Anthony, 1604, ad- 
venturer and diplomatist, 280 
note 



Shurfk Idreeseein dynasty founded 

by Mulai I drees, 5 
Sidi Mohammed, son of Mulai 

Abd Allah v., 11 
Si Marzak and his fair Azizah, 

the loves of, 160-162 
Slave-markets, Marrdkesh and 

Fez, 1 79-181 
Slavery in Morocco, 8, 17, ef 

passim, 179-190 ; sources of 

supply, 180; girls for hareems, 

181 ; treatment fairly kind, 181, 

182 ; men have risen to high 
positions, 182 ; use chiefly do- 
mestic, 183 ; a slave-girl's cruel 
story, 185-190 

Smeerah, quaint incident at, 198 
Smin, use of, 112, 131 
Smith, Sir Chas. Euan, 206 
Snake-charming, 137, 151-158 
Social life, Moorish, 82-87 
Spain, Moorish empire in, founded 
by Berbers, 6, 54 ; footprints of 
Moors in, 332-379 ; place-names 
and words of Arabic origin, 
333> 369 ; physiognomy of the 
people, 335 ; habits and cus- 
toms, 335 ; salutations, 336 ; 
narrow streets, 336 ; forts and 
mosques (churches), 337; the 
mosque at Cordova {g.v^ ; Gi- 
rdlda and El Kasar at Seville 
{q.v^ ; the Alhambra at Gra- 
ndda {q.v) ; other Moorish 
towns, villages, castles, and re- 
mains 366-379 ; women of, at 
the battle of Jaca, 378 
Sports and pastimes, Moorish : 
active, 96, 133-137 ; passive, 
138-150, 151-158, 159-165 
Stamps and stamp-dealers, 287 
Story-teller, the, 122, 137, 138- 
150 ; Mulai Abd el Kdder and 
the Monk of Monks, 141-148 



400 



INDEX 



Tanlalt, home for discarded Sul- 
tanas, 73 

Tangier, English cede possession 
of, 9, 3S3 ; drunkenness and 
vice, 41 ; North African Mis- 
sion, 42 ; shopping in, 11S-124 ; 
market-place, 1 21-123 ; Sunday 
market, 125-132 ; salt-pans, 129; 
English Church at, 132^ start- 
ing-place for Mekka pilgrims, 
192, 196; residence of ambas- 
sadors, 205 ; gaol at, 233 ; 
many Frenchmen at, 300 

Tarifa, ^loorish remains at, 366 

Tarragona, cathedral of, 373 

Tea, making, S6, 103 

Tilework of Algeria, 316 

Toledo, 336, 373 ; Moorish h)"-- 
draulists,374; Ez-Zarkal's water- 
clocks, 374 ; cathedral, 374 ; 
sword-manufacture, 375 

Tortosa, ancient pirate stronghold, 
372 

Tripoli, city and people, 326-331 ; 
the Turkish element in, 326; 
viewed firom Morocco, 326-331 ; 
mosques, 32S ; irrigation, 330 

Timis, city, 321, 322 

Tunisia, 299, 308 ; viewed from Mo- 
rocco, 318-325 ; under French 
rule, 318-320; Jews in, 319; 
Arabs in, 322 ; Mooi-s in, 322 ; 
women in, 325 



Valencia, ancient Moorish para- 
dise, 372 

W 

Water-carriers. Moorish, 132, 149 
Water-clocks, Ez-Zarkal's, 374 
Wazzan, Shareef of, present repre- 
sentative of Shurfa Idreeseein 
dynasty, 5, 296 
Wilhelm II. in Tangier Bay, 2S1 
Women of ^Morocco, occupations 
58, 62, TJ, III, 134 ; seclusion, 
64, 77, S3, 103, 107 ; subsen-ient 
position, 71-81, 107 ; possi- 
bilities of influence, 73 ; marri- 
ages, 75, ^^, 88-93; divorce, 
76 ; social visits, 82-87 '■> wear- 
ing apparel, 84 ; excellent cooks, 
85, 105, III, 112; slaves, iSi, 
1S3, 185, 190; women in Tu- 
nisia, 325 ; in Tripoli, 329 



X 



Xeres, Old, Moorish citadel, 367 



Zarhon, most sacred town, 5 
Za^\^ah of Sidi Abd er-Rahman, 

316 
Zummeetah, " mixed," quaint 

story of, 198 



THE END 



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